


How Our Story Starts

by sharkyclarky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Deaths, Friendship, Hogwarts, Lifetime, Magic, Multi, The Marauders - Freeform, War, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-05-19 13:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkyclarky/pseuds/sharkyclarky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow the marauders as they finish school and start their own lives. Will James finally marry the girl he's been chasing? Will Remus finally be accepted fully? And can Sirius and Marlene stop destroying themselves long enough to fall in love? Because this is where all their stories start. (set during the first war until 1981 - will involve Character deaths.)<br/>Also posted on FF.Net</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was a peaceful Saturday morning in the Potter household, James was in his room, pondering on the ways in which he could ask Lily Evans out that year while he played absently with the snitch fluttering above his head, reaching out and grabbing it with lighting reflexes.

He had been dressed for hours, just lounging around in his room wearing blue jeans and grey T-shirt, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and his ever scruffy black hair sticking out every which way, the way it always did.

In was late August, only two days away until he'd once again be boarding the train at Platform 9 ¾ and returning to school for his sixth year to create all kinds of mischief. His trunk was packed, all his new books arranged as neatly as he could manage, his clothes piled in after them and his owl, Ignotus, sat contently in his cage.

Next door, James could hear the movement of his brother through the wall and looking at the clock the read _14:35_ and knew it was about the time when Sirius would wake up.

"Boys!" James heard his mother shout from downstairs "It's time the two of you were awake, they'll be here soon!" she called again, but James didn't reply, she wouldn't expect him to. Snatching the snitch and putting it back into his pocket, James walked into the hall way. His house in Godric's Hollow wasn't especially large, with only four bedrooms – two for which were for guests before Sirius moved in last Christmas. Everything was clean and family pictures hung on every wall, the laughing and smiling faces looking at James kindly as he walked to the bedroom next to his own.

James didn't bother knocking; he never did, and instead just strolled straight into his brother room. To say the bedroom looked like a war zone was and understatement. Sirius had only been living here since the spring, yet he'd very quickly made himself at home. The floor was covered with clothing, some clean and folded, some not, the wardrobe having still not been used. The walls were a cream-white colour and currently coated in all manner of posters from Muggle motorbikes to posters of bikini-clad muggle women and posters of bands that James had never seen or heard of. None of the posters – James realised – were moving.

Looking across the bombsite of the room, his eyes fell upon the double bed in the centre of the room pushed back against the far wall and beneath the window that was obscured by such thick curtains that barely any sunlight managed to fight its way through.

Smirking lightly to himself, James grabbed the nearest thing to him and threw it at Sirius's head. Lucky for Sirius it was only a pillow. The other boy bolted awake, sitting up straight, his grey eyes wide and alert, the covers falling to show his toned naked chest.

"Do you ever sleep with clothes on, Pads?" James asked, trying not the laugh as Sirius scowled at him. Sirius was far from a morning bird, the only reason he ever woke up before noon was either for Quidditch or to sneak out of some girls bed before she woke up and begged him to stay.

"Fuck off, Prongs." He grumbled, rubbing his hands over his slightly stubbled face, pushing his shaggy black hair out of his eyes. Sirius, unlike James, seemed to have a careless handsomeness to him, the groggier he looked, the more women seemed to become interested. Perhaps it was the devil-may-care smirk or the rebellious attitude, but something made girls swoon over Sirius Black, most of them would sell their souls just for one night alone with him, and Sirius never was one to say no.

"Time to get up, we've got family round in a bit." He said, turning to leave the room, hearing several of Sirius's extensively colourful vocabulary as he went.

"Morning, James." His mother said, smiling kindly at him from beneath her glasses, "Or should I say afternoon?" she said, half hearting at being disapproving, but James heard his father laughing at the table and his mother's stern façade cracked. "Is Sirius up yet?" she asked, putting a plate of sandwiches onto the table, pushing her wild brown hair behind her ears as she did so.

"What do you think?" James asked, grabbing the first sandwich he saw, hardly fussy about what was inside it as his father laughed again and his mother rolled her eyes.

Elise and Richard Potter were the exact image of a perfect family. Elise was beautiful, even with age, with her long, black hair the same colour as James's falling down her back, perfectly straight and her soft grey-blue eyes. Aside from the black hair and need for glasses, James was the spitting image of his father, with his scruffy hair that didn't do anything you tried to made it do and his hazel eyes.

"You boys and your sleep." She said, busying herself with washing the knives she'd used to cut the bread from the loaf she'd made. Elise was a fantastic cook, whatever she made was exquisite, and people could hardly get enough of it. More than once she'd taken cakes to the Christmas fete at the church in Godric's Hollow, only to receive such praise she'd gone home to make even more.

Just then, Sirius stumbled into the kitchen, finally having managed to locate some proper clothing. His hair was wet, sticking out wildly from where he'd rubbed it with a towel to dry it quickly. If no one had known about Sirius Black, they could easily have passed him off for being one of the Potters, he had the same grey eyes as Elise only without the shades of blue and his thick, shaggy black hair resembled hers in quite a surreal way.

As it happened, Sirius Black was not apart of this family, at least not by blood. He'd grown up in one of the most notorious wizarding family's there was, with their pureblood supremacy and their tendency towards the dark arts. Sirius was the oldest of Walburga and Orion Black's sons, only to far from fit their standards. He was arrogant, but in a different, more approachable way, he was shady and mysterious but in a way that attracted you, not scared you away and above all, he was a Gryffindor, a lion locked in a house full of snakes. He never belonged there.

And so in the Easter holidays of last year, when the arguments, and in some cases duelling, had become far too much for Sirius he had run away into the cold world, leaving the bitter family that had shunned and abandoned him behind, and going to the one place he knew he belonged. He went to the Potters, the only place he had ever felt loved. Elise and Richard had welcomed the boy with open arms and had since forth treated him like he was their second son, and Sirius loved them for it.

"Someone had a late night." Elise said, looking as Sirius with a stern yet friendly look on her face, he looked at her with the charming apologetic smile he often used to worm his way out not doing his homework.

"You should know him well enough by now." Richard said, laughing slightly as he winked at Sirius from behind his copy of the Daily Prophet, Sirius grinned back.

"Well you could at least go and get dressed properly before the McKinnon's arrive." Elise said and James smirked into his sandwich.

"The McKinnon's?" Sirius enquired, grabbing a sandwich and taking a large bite.

"Yes, my sister Freya is coming over with her family so we can see them before they go to Hogwarts again. It's Drew's first year." Elise said proudly.

"So, you're Scottish?" Sirius asked curiously, looking at Elise who smiled down at him.

"Yes, I met Richard at school and then we moved here, I thought you knew this, Sirius?" Elise asked, slightly confused. Sirius just shook his head.

"It's not really my business." He said before eating the crust of his sandwich in one bite. "Great food, Elise." He praised "I'm going to get dressed." He said and disappeared up the stairs, Elise staring after him.

"What's up, Mum?" James asked, going for his fourth sandwich, still feeling far from full.

"Nothing, dear." She replied and turned back to look at her biological son. "I just wish he wouldn't hide away from us so much." And Richard nodded in agreement before returning to his paper and James was left with a thought, did he really know Sirius Black all that well.

* * *

"Lily, dear," She heard her mother say as she knocked on her door "Are you up yet, love?"

"Yes, Mum!" she called back, looking up from the Potions essay she had been writing, putting her quill back in the ink pot.

"Dad's left for work and I've got to go soon too, will you and Petunia be alright on your own?" Her mother said, poking her head around the door, her red hair pulled into a bun.

"I'll be fine, mum. " Lilt replied, smiling at her mother who returned it kindly.

"Okay," she said, looking at her fifteen year old daughter sat at her desk, her red hair falling around her shoulders, her big green eyes glistening.

"Oh, and there's a girl downstairs for you." She said before leaving. Lily had no idea who would be visiting her, she was back at Hogwarts in two days, and all of her friends would see her then. Lily Evans was a Muggle-born witch, someone without magical parents, something that certain witches and wizards frowned upon, but at large Lily was accepted. She was infact the best in her year and had been appointed the position of prefect for that year.

Not caring too much about her appearance, Lily walked down the stairs in her pyjamas, just as the front door shut, her mother leaving for work. Petunia was sat on the sofa in the living room, her blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail, her lips pressed into a firm line.

As Lily entered the room she saw Petunia scowl at her before huffing indignantly, looking pointedly away form the other sofa.

"Hey, Lils!" The girl said smugly, sitting on the sofa opposite Petunia, her tight brown curls falling to her chin, her dark eyes filled with amusement. "I've just had the best chat with your darling sister." She said, indicating to Petunia who scowled at the girl before standing and approaching Lily.

"You being a freak is one thing," Petunia spat, "But now you're brining them here!" she said and Lily didn't quite know how to react.

"I didn't invite her here, Tunia," Lily said, trying to reason with her jealous sister, but she just huffed and stomped off up the stairs, slamming her bed room door at the top.

"Well she's even better than you'd told us." The girl said, standing up and hugging Lily tightly, her tanned skin a stark contrast to the pallor of Lily's.

"Dorcas, what on earth are you doing here?" Lily asked, taking in the appearance of her friend with her three quarter length white trousers and her black vest.

"I haven't seen you all summer!" Dorcas exclaimed "I feel like I've missed so much!"

"Dorcas, you were only in Spain for two weeks" Lily said, smiling brightly at her overdramatic friend. Dorcas Meadows was one of four other girls that Lily shared her dormitory with at Hogwarts and had done ever since she was eleven years old, along with Marlene McKinnon, Alice Cooper and Mary MacDonald. She was fierce and strong, tending to be a lot more boyish than the other girls in the dormitory. She was always wearing baggy jeans and long sleeves, never really branching out, but what she lacked in appearance, she made up for tenfold with the passion and fire in her personality. Long story short, Dorcas Meadows was not someone it would be fun to cross.

"Well its been long enough for Marlene and Gideon to get together!" She said, throwing her hand sup in exasperation.

"Gideon? With Marlene? Are you sure?" Lily asked, half excited, half apprehensive.

"The very same pair, I stopped by hers yesterday and they were - well, let's just say, I spent a lot of time banging my head against a wall afterwards." Dorcas said, seeming to shiver at the thought.

"Oh, Merlin," Lily said, her mouth opened wide "Does Sirius know?" she asked suddenly, the thought popping into her head.

"Sirius? Probably, why does it matter?"

"You know, him and Marlene," Lily said, letting the end of her sentence just hang in the air untill Dorcas, her eyebrow raised replied-

"Shagged two years ago? Yeah, I'm sure they're both set for life." She said sarcastically and Lily frowned "Come on, you know Marley, she doesn't want some big time commitment."

"Then why is she with Gideon?" Lily asked, generally confused. Marlene didn't tend to go for relationships, she was far more interested in teasing the opposite sex until they couldn't take it anymore, by which point she would have random, senseless sex with them and the two didn't tend to talk afterwards.

"He's older," Dorcas shrugged "He's a twin and he's experienced, plus he isn't that bad to look at." She said appreciatively. "Look, Lils," Dorcas began and Lily looked up at her "I know you just want Marlene to be happy, but do you honestly think she'll have that with Sirius?" she said reasonably and Lily shrugged.

"I don't know, they just have so much in common." She said "They both drink a lot, they both smoke a lot, the both have a lot of partners," Dorcas scoffed and Lily's awkwardness on the subject of sex "And they're both into similar things."

"You're just forgetting one tinie, tiny detail," Dorcas said with a sweet, sarcastic smile "They hate each other."

"They don't," Lily countered and Dorcas scoffed, actually scoffed.

"Puh-lease!" She said, throwing her head back to laugh slightly. "You spent as much with them as I do, then are they not at each others throats? And don't say that it's a cover up, you know as well as I do that they're not like that."

"Well, maybe you're right, but still, are her and Gideon really going to work out?" Lily asked, already feeling guilty for talking about one of her close friends in such a way. Dorcas shrugged.

"How should I know, it's Marlene, that girls a time bomb, you never know when she'd going to explode." She said and Lily nodded in agreement, laughing at how the three of them had been so close since they met, Lily, Dorcas and Marlene. They were a strange mix, but a strong one all the same.

"I'd best be off now," Dorcas said quickly, grabbing her rucksack form the floor, "I promised I'd stop in and see Peter and Remus, plus I've still got to finish my school shopping. See you on the platform!" Dorcas shouted before jumping into the fireplace, throwing down a handful of powder and shouting for her destination, her body disappearing in the flames.

* * *

Marlene was in her room, still wrapped up in her bed as the sun filtered through the gap in the curtains warming her face slightly. Her light blonde hair was splayed across her pillow, the make up from the night before slightly smudged beneath her open eyes as she stared at the ceiling.

She was a beautiful girl, Marlene, with a tall slender frame and leg's that carried on for miles. Her body was pale and curved sexily in all the right places, a soft dusting of freckles were splattered over her nose and under her bright blue eyes.

"Morning," Said a deep voice, and Marlene turned to her side, expecting to see a random man in her bed like there usually was, instead he saw the scruffy red hair and brown eyes of Gideon Prewett, a now seventh year Gryffindor.

"Morning," She replied, her voice rather husky from sleep and she smiled against his lips as he kissed her softly. Slowly, but surely, the kiss deepened and before long, Marlene was sat onto of him, her legs straddling his waist as he sat up, the two of them locked at the lips, him without a shirt on and her wearing nothing but his white shirt that was so big on her that it fell off her shoulder and her pants.

"Marlene!" a voice shouted from down the stairs and Marlene groaned, smacking her head against Gideon's strong shoulder. "Will you get up already? We're leaving in an hour."

"You going somewhere?" he asked and cocked an eyebrow and she sighed dramatically in response.

"Family outing." She said rolling her eyes and climbing off of him, much to his disappointment. He loved the way that her body felt against his own, the silkiness of her skin and the taste of her lips. "Meaning you're going to have to go." She said, shrugging unapologetically and climbing of the bed, beginning to rummage around the floor, grabbing the first clothes she could find. "That means now." She said, as he just lay, with his back propped up against the head board of her bed, looking at her.

"But I could get used to this," he said, watching as Marlene began to get changed. She had no shame, most of the Gryffindor tower had already seen her in compromising positions or lounging around in just t-shirts, so she wasn't as bothered anymore as she used to be. She was sexy, and she had known it for a rather long time.

"Yes, but in about twenty minutes that doors going to open and my big brother going to storm in, and I'm not sure you want that." She said and Gideon sighed, remembering all to well the lecture he'd received from Marlene's eldest brother, Cameron, who had just turned twenty.

"Fine, fine, I'm going." He said and grabbed his trousers from the floor as Marlene passed back his shirt. "So I'll see you on the train?" he asked and she smirked.

"When you're done with your perfect duties." She replied and he laughed. Gideon and his twin Fabian were the schools pranksters, known second only to the Marauders and their trouble making antics. Gideon, as the more level headed of the two had been made a prefect in his fifth year, much to the amusement of his brother and congratulations' of his older sister, Molly.

"I'll see you then." He said giving her a quick, chaste kiss before apparating straight out of her bedroom.

Once she was sure he was gone, Marlene sighed. Not in the smitten kind of love struck way she should have been, more in relief. She'd spent nearly every day with Gideon for the past two weeks of the summer and quite frankly, it was becoming too much. Sure he was funny, and frankly, a great shag, but Marlene was beginning to get a little sick of it. He was a cuddler, and Marlene wasn't. He cared a lot about his studies, Marlene couldn't even remember which OWLS she had picked having copied what Lily Evans had put down, and above all, Gideon resented the fact that she smoked.

Pulling on her jeans and a weird sisters t-shirt far too big for her, Marlene ventured down the stairs, pulling her hair back into a scruffy bun as she did so. She was met at the bottom of the stairs by Cameron, clearly just about to come and get her. He looked up at her with his brown eyes and smiled, ruffling his short, yet untameable brown hair.

Marlene was the third child of Aubrey and Freya McKinnon, turning sixteen in December. Her eldest brother, Cameron was twenty, and then it was Ross who was eighteen. After Marlene were four younger siblings, two girls and two boys. Chrissy was a Ravenclaw third year and Drew was beginning his first year. Then there were the twins, Bonni and Rodric were the youngest, being only five years old and still having to be schooled at home by their mother while their father worked all day at the ministry.

"Marlene?" Her mother called from the kitchen "Is that you?"

"Yes!" Marlene shouted back and Cameron smiled up at her when she rolled her eyes.

"Come and help me get the food ready!" She called again and Marlene groaned, hitting her head against the picture on the wall.

"You think you've got it bad, apparently I haven't shaved properly." Cameron said, laughing slightly before pushing past her on the stairs and walking into the bathroom.

Walking into the kitchen, Marlene could see her mother dancing around, waving her wand and trying to ultimately do six things at once. Her blonde hair was curled and sat delicately above her shoulders, her brown eyes panicked and wide until the finally fell upon Marlene in the doorway.

"Marlene, about time! Can you-" but she froze, looking at Marlene with something that looked peculiarly like a sneer. "What _are_ you wearing, love?" she asked, eyeing Marlene's ripped jeans and large t-shirt with obvious distaste.

"What's wrong with it?" Marlene asked, looking down at herself. Sure her hair hadn't been washed in about two days and her makeup was left on from the day before, but she hadn't thought she'd looked awful as she passed the mirror in the hallway.

"Well, we're visiting family and you just look a bit – well – trashy" her mother finished, looking half guilty, half

"Thank you for that." Marlene said coldly, eyeing her mother in her blue dress and matching low heeled shoes.

"Don't take offence, love, you know I don't mean it like that." Her mother reassured, flicking her wand towards a tray bake she'd made, the cake immediately cutting itself into even squares and floating into the open cake tin. "It's just, I'd like them to think we've made an effort and that I'm not dragging you against your will." She said reasonably and Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Mum, I doubt Auntie and Uncle will mind, and I can tell you James wont have made any effort." She said and her mother looked like she was biting her tongue from saying anything she'd later regret.

"Well, we've got about forty-five minutes, go have a shower atleast, and why don't you wear that nice blue dress I bought you-"

"You bought that five years ago." Marlene said, cutting her off, "I don't own any dresses anymore." She said

"A skirt then?" and Marlene shook her head, no. "Well, how about a nice top, something a little less casual. And why don't you do your hair up nicely." She said and the look in her eyes, Marlene knew she couldn't say no.

"Fine, fine! I'll change." She said, throwing her hands up and turning to leave, her mother shouting after her.

"Marlene, don't you dare start stropping!" her mother shouted, but Marlene had already entered the second bathroom and slammed the door before peeling her clothes off and jumping into the shower.

Things like this always happened, tiny little disagreements between Marlene and her mother. Most of the time it was fine and they could talk through the problem civilly, but other times it resulted in shouting and a lot of swearing on Marlene's part that she was later reprimanded for. It was petty most of the time, just disagreements over what Marlene was wearing or what she said, but other times it was stricter and hit Marlene a lot harder. Like the time they had argued over Marlene's grades at the end of last term, and how her mother said she was throwing her life away, and why couldn't she be a normal girl like Chrissy or be a good student like Ross or be successful like Cameron. Needless to say that Marlene had shouted back, practically screaming at the woman before retiring up to her room, only to sneak out of her window and walk around in the dark, a packet of cigarettes tucked into her pocket.

Forty minutes later, and Marlene was back downstairs, her hair cleaner and smelling of citrus fruits, her makeup redone but not excessive (Her mother would have a heart attack) and a white blouse on above her jeans as apposed to the band top she'd wanted to wear.

As they all stood around the fireplace, ready to floo over to the Potters, Marlene could tell her mother still disapproved of her clothing, but this time, to Marlene's relief, she didn't comment.

"Right, Cameron, you take Bonni through," Marlene's mother said, indicating to the little girl with big brown eyes and brown pigtails tied off with pink ribbon to match her pretty pink sundress. Marlene internally begged she'd never worn anything so ghastly. Nodding at his mother, Cameron bent down and picked up the little girl with ease before stepping into the fire and shouting clearly 'POTTER RESIDENCE' and disappearing with Bonni clinging onto him. "Now Ross, you take Rodric," she said and the boy with scruffy and slightly too long brown hair and twinkling blue eyes picked up the little boy before stepping into the fireplace and shouting again, disappearing into the flames. "Now, I'm going to take Drew through, and you two follow." She said, looking between Marlene and Chrissy, both of whom nodded before taking the hand of a blonde haired boy and stepping into the grate.

"So she shouted at you?" Chrissy asked once their mother had disappeared. Chrissy didn't look like their mother or their father, she had long, straight black hair and stormy grey eyes hidden behind black rimmed glasses, just like their Auntie Elise, but Chrissy was intelligent beyond belief.

"You could say that." Marlene said, looking forwards, giving her mother time to get out of the grate.

"I'm sure she didn't mean what she said." Chrissy said, her big grey eyes looking up at her big sister. When they were younger, Chrissy had idolised Marlene, they'd spend hours together, Marlene plaiting her sister's hair and Chrissy reading aloud to her big sister, they were inseparable, but then Marlene left for Hogwarts, leaving Chrissy behind. When she'd come back that summer the two of them had never quite been the same.

"If you say so, Chris," Marlene scoffed and Chrissy rolled her eyes, stepping forward into the fireplace.

"We'd better go before mum has a seizure." She said and Marlene nodded, stepping into the fireplace with a handful of powder before shouting her destination.

The two girls stumbled out of the fireplace unceremoniously. Chrissy tripped on the way out and Marlene tripped over her foot, her vision bleary from the soot of her exit. The Potters never did clean their chimney. Knowing she was going to hit the floor, Marlene spun so she was facing upwards and shut her eyes, bracing herself for the impact, only for it not to come.

Cracking her eyes open she came face to face with no other than Sirius Black smirking down at her, his shaggy black hair fallen into his eyes, his jaw line dusted with short, black stubble.

"You've only just got here and you're already falling at my feet." He said with his notorious smirk.

"Piss off, Black." She replied, trying to wriggle out of his arms, but he didn't seem to be letting go. "Black, let me go." She said sternly and Black smirked again.

"As you wish," he said before moving his arms, dropping her ungracefully on the wooden floor of the Potter's living room.

"You're a bastard." She hissed, dragging herself to her feet.

"You love it," he replied and Marlene punched his arm, hard. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing is shoulder where her fist had hit him.

"Just thought I'd check you weren't delirious." She said with a shrug before walking towards the kitchen where voices were emitting. She distinctly heard Sirius grumble and insult behind her, but she had already walked away.

"Marley!" she heard someone shout before she felt herself lifted from the floor.

"James!" she shrieked as he began spinning her around in the air, both of them laughing and smiling. "James, put me down!" she screamed as he spun her faster.

"James, put Marlene down," Elise said and James did as he was told, placing her gently back on her feet where she swayed, slightly uneasy. "Marlene, it's great to see you," Elise said, enveloping Marlene in a hug that she gratefully returned.

"It's great to see you too Auntie," she said, smiling brightly at the older witch who then turned to Chrissy, telling her all about a book she'd read over the holidays. As greetings were shared and food was placed on the table, the adults all began to sit down around the table and tuck in. Marlene, James, Chrissy and Sirius however went back into the living room to talk to Drew about Hogwarts.

"You're going to love it, Drew!" Chrissy said excitedly, smiling at her younger brother. "The teachers are brilliant, the library is to die for and don't even get me started on the lessons!"

"No really, "Marlene said, nudging Chrissy forwards "Don't." she said and Chrissy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "And remember you want to be in Gryffindor, like me and Cameron" Marlene added, ruffling her brother blonde hair.

"No way!" Chrissy said indignantly "You want to be with me in Ravenclaw, just like Ross and I." she said and stuck her tongue out at Marlene, who then proceeded to push her off the sofa to cackles of laughter from all the boys of the room.

"No fair!" she shouted, getting up and leaving the room angrily, Marlene still laughing after her.

"Sorry, Chris" she shouted but didn't get a response and so continued to laugh.

"What if I'm in Slytherin?" Drew asked, his big brown eyes looking at his sister, who had stopped laughing.

"I'll disown you," she said jokily and Drew smiled.

"Can we go play Quidditch in the garden?" he asked excitedly and Marlene was sure she saw Sirius's ears prick up.

"Absolutely!" he replied, jumping to his feet, "I dibs captain one!"

"I dibs captain two!" they heard Cameron shout from the kitchen where he had abandoned his food in excitement to play the game.

"No chance," Sirius said plainly, "You're going to be a professional soon; I'm having you on my team."

And so they all ran into the garden to play the sport. Elise and Freya were sat on the patio furniture with Bonni and Rodric sat in each of their laps as the others picked teams before heading to the skies.

Marlene was chosen for Cameron's team along with Chrissy and her Uncle Richard who'd insisted he got to play. On Sirius's team were James, Ross and Drew. Each team had one keeper, one chaser, one seeker and one beater, the aim was to get the most points while Elise kept a running score going from the ground.

An hour later and they all touched back down, Chrissy proudly holding James's snitch in her hand and smiling widely at her siblings and cousins.

"I am far too old for this," Richard said, touching the ground and holding his back. "I think I'm going to go and have a sit down." He said and the others left as he walked awkwardly back into the house. They all turned to one another and began laughing about James's dad before they heard a shout from behind them and James groaned, knowing it could only be on thing.

"We did not cheat!" they all heard Marlene shout, followed by barking laugh that James knew to associate with Sirius.

"Bullshit! You had Cameron and he's practically a pro, how else would you have won?" he said and James could see the anger boiling in Marlene's face.

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps the fact that we're better players you than you were had something to do with it!" She shouted and everyone winced as her Scottish accent shone through. The McKinnon's were a Scottish family having always lived deep in the countryside, but due to being schooled at Hogwarts, most of them had learned to quell their accent slightly, including Marlene. But the second Marlene got extremely angry or even when she was nervous her accent shone through like the moon in the night, bright, shinning and obvious.

" _Oh, I don't know._ " Sirius mocked, badly impersonating her accent as she clenched her fists at her side.

"Fuck you, Black!" she said and stormed off towards the house, throwing the borrowed broomstick down by the door on the way.

"You just had to wind her up, didn't you?" James said, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. Ross however, was laughing. "What's so funny?" James asked, but Ross just shook her head.

"I'll go talk to her," Cameron offered, and looked at Sirius, a protective look in his eyes. "You stay here." He said and began walking back to the house. Sirius made and obscene hand gesture towards the oldest McKinnon while he wasn't looking, receiving sniggers from the others, only to fall flat on his back, much to Ross's amusement, when Cameron flicked his wand toward him.

"Piss off, James." Sirius said, standing back up on his feet rubbing his aching backside with his hand and staring towards the house that Marlene had just disappeared. "She started it," Sirius said pointing at the back door as the rest of the McKinnon's began to walk through it.

"You say that every time you guys fight, Pads." James said, picking his broomstick up from the floor and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Well it's usually true." He said defensively, but James just laughed. "What?" Sirius asked.

"You two," he replied "You're practically the same person, no wonder you hate each other." He said, beginning to walk away.

"Yes, we do." Sirius said, glad James could finally see what was happening between him and Marlene, not misjudging it like other people did.

"Then you wont mind that she's currently dating Gideon Prewett." Sirius stopped for a moment and just ogled at James like he'd gone insane.

"She's doing what?" he asked, disbelieving.

"Gideon, according to Dorcas anyway." James replied.

"Just 'cause she's dating him, it doesn't mean she's 'doing' him." Sirius said, scoffing as he carried his broomstick towards the back door where the others had left theirs.

"That's what I said to Dorcas, but she's adamant they're having sex." James said, opening the door.

"And whys that?" Sirius said, laughing at how absurd Dorcas's accusations of Marlene were.

"She saw them." James said before running into the house, leaving Sirius frozen outside on the patio for a second before he seemed to regain his senses.

"What did you just say, Prongs?" he shouted, but he was already back inside the house. "Prongs? James! Get your arse over here and explain this now!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Now are you sure you have everything you need, dear?" Lily's mother asked her as they stood beside the bright red steam engine at quarter to eleven, children and parents of all ages gathered similarly around them.

"I'm sure, mum." Lily said, smiling at her mother who she was slowly becoming the same height as.

"Okay then dear. Be good, keep working hard and please be careful." Her mother said, an anxiously forced smile on her face.

"I will be, Mum, you don't need to worry," Lily said, hugging her mother tightly breaking away only when she heard someone call her name. Before she could even see who it was, she felt someone small crashing into her, pushing her backwards a few feet.

"Urgh! Lils, it's been ages since I saw you!" Alice said, smiling up at Lily. She had short, black hair styled into a sort of pixie cut, her dark eyes shimmering with excitement. "Nice to see you Mrs Evans." She said, nodding at the woman who smiled back.

"You must be Alice." She said, knowing immediately that this was the strange and bubbly girl that Lily had so many stories about.

"The one and only." She said giving a mock salute to Lily's father as well. "Nice to meet you sir, and you must be Petunia, Lily's said so much about you." Alice said, still smiling.

"I bet she has." Pertunia sneered, looking at the girl with distaste, something Alice didn't pick up on, but Lily did.

"Be nice, Tunia," Mr Evans said but Petunia just huffed, sticking her nose in the air and crossing her arms.

"I'm going to wait in the car." She said snootily and stormed off towards the barrier, eyeing it sceptically. She seemed to decide better than going through it on her own, and decided instead to stand next to it, a look of disgust on her face as she watched the witches and wizards.

"Don't' worry about her, Lily," Mr Evans said. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually." He said hugging his daughter.

"Sure, when hell freezes over, I'll bet." Alice said and Mr and Mrs Evans looked at her questioningly, like they weren't sure whether she was joking or not, a very common thing with Alice. "Come on Lils, we need to nab a decent compartment before the others get here," She said, linking her arm through Lily's and dragging her towards the large train. "Nice to meet you!" Alice shouted back over her shoulder and Lily's parents gave her daughter and her friend a wave before waiting patiently for the train to leave so they could see their daughter off properly.

* * *

"Now you're sure you've got everything, Drew," Freya McKinnon asked as she fussed over her son, making sure his jacket was done up and that he had his packed lunch in his bag. Marlene had very subtly thrown her sandwich to the pigeons while her mother was fussing with her brother. In all honesty she just wanted to get on the train and leave. "And Christa, you'll make sure he gets a seat on the train and that he knows where he's going." She said, talking to the now third year girl who nodded excitedly as Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Marlene," Her mother said and Marlene looked up from her shoes and looked instead at her mother who was eyeing sceptically with a smile on her face. Marlene knew this wasn't a good thing. "Why aren't you wearing your badge, love?"

"My what? What badge?" Marlene asked, looking at her t-shirt in confusion.

"Your prefect's badge," Her mother said, sounding slightly irritated, looking at people passing by from the corner of her eyes.

"Mum, I thought you knew, Lily got prefect, not me." If Marlene thought her mum would accept that excuse, she was very wrong.

"Christa, go and get on the train, love, we don't want you not getting a seat." Her mother said and Chrissy sent an apologetic shrug to Marlene before scurrying off towards the train, a confused Drew in tow. "What do you mean you're not a prefect?" Her mother said, rounding on her eldest daughter with a crazed look in her eyes.

"I mean I'm not a prefect." Marlene said, shrugging nonchalantly, truth was, Marlene didn't want to be a prefect, all that responsibility and being a role model, the thought was enough to make her shudder.

"Don't take that tone with me." Her mother said sternly "Now what do you mean you're not a prefect, of course you are, you're a McKinnon." She said and puffed her chest out proudly. Marlene wanted to laugh.

"Mum, I'm telling you, I'm not a prefect, I wasn't good enough." She said carelessly and her mothers eyes narrowed.

"Well you're right about one thing." Her mother said coldly, and Marlene was shocked for a second, before she narrowed her eyes at her.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice intimidating, but her mother held her ground.

"You heard me, young lady. You said you weren't good enough, and I agree." She said and it felt like someone had just punched Marlene straight in the gut. "Both of your brothers were prefects, Ross was even head boy and Cameron was Quidditch captain, they've both got bright futures ahead of them, and I'm not so sure you do."

"How can you say that?" Marlene said, abashed that her mother was saying such things to her.

"Because you're ruining your life, Marlene, you'd better pluck your ideas up if you want to live up the McKinnon name." she said, holding her head high.

"Well maybe I don't want to live up to the fucking McKinnon name." Marlene burst out, the rage coursing through her mingling with the hurt from her mothers words were seriously obscuring her judgement, but she didn't have the mind to care.

"Marlene!" Her mother said, sounding shocked as she looked over her shoulders, checking no one had heard her daughter use such language. "Don't you use that language towards me."

"Stop telling me what to do." Marlene countered, her fists clenched at her side. "You always do this, tell me I'm not as good as Cameron or Ross or even Chrissy like it's going to magically change me into the perfect daughter." she ranted but her mother didn't seem to be paying attention. "Are you even listening to me?"

"You'd better get on the train." Her mother said. "We'll talk about this another time." Her mother said and turned to walk away.

"Unbelievable." Marlene said, turning on her heel and stalking towards the train and climbing aboard, not looking back towards her mother as she walked down the platform towards the barrier.

* * *

"So what did you do all summer then, Marlene?" Dorcas asked, looking at the girl opposite her in the compartment. "Aside form Gideon of course."

After she'd gotten on the train, Marlene had flopped into the window seat of the first empty compartment she'd found, quickly to have been joined by Dorcas, Peter, James and Sirius.

"I stayed in mostly," Marlene said reaching for the bag at her feet. They'd been on the train for at least an hour now, but the prefects weren't back from their meeting, meaning they were short of Lily and Remus. Alice had disappeared looking for Frank Longbottom and Mary MacDonald had only stopped to say hello once before scurrying off to find her boyfriend, Amos Diggery.

"Ooo, exciting." Dorcas said, rolling her eyes and Marlene pulled a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket, sticking one between her lips before opening the window of the compartment.

"What about you two love birds?" she asked, turning towards James and Sirius,

"Well we went for a few moonlit walks and ate dinner on the beach at one point." Sirius said with a smirk. He was sat by the window opposite Marlene but was making a point not to look at her while she dragged on her cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the window.

"Sounds romantic." Dorcas replied. "Merlin, why is everyone so dead today!" she exclaimed while the others looked at her blankly. "You're all being so dull. James isn't fawning over Lily, Remus isn't here to roll his eyes and for god sake why aren't you two trying to kill each other yet?" she said looking directly at Marlene and Sirius who just looked at her blankly. "Urgh! I'm off to find Alice and Frank, perhaps they can save my sanity."

They sat in silence for a little while longer until Peter looked up excitedly from his comic and jumped at the doorway just as the woman said –

"Anything from the trolley dears?" they all sniggered slightly at Peter's excitement and even sparked some conversations between each other while munching quietly on some of the sweets Peter bought, but it was short lived.

"I think the prefects are finished," Peter said after another hour of silence, to which James practically jumped out of his seat in an attempt to make himself presentable. He smoothed his clothes and ruffled his hair, giving it the I-Just-Got-Off-A-Broom look, something that made Marlene laugh and Sirius scoff.

"Hey guy's" Lily said as she entered the compartment with Remus and Gideon in tow, something that made Sirius scowl even deeper than before. "We met Gideon on the way out and he said he wanted to- Marlene," She said, looking accusingly at the girl who was sat with her feet up on the seat. Marlene gave Lily a 'hmm' of recognition but didn't say anything. "Have you been smoking in here?" she asked, her hands on her hips as Sirius chuckled at the scenario. Lily looked like an angry mother in a school uniform, obviously having changed into her robes for the meeting. James was looking at her adorningly and Gideon was looking at Marlene with a strange put off expression as she smirked her notorious smirk at Lily.

"It's nice to see you too, Lily. I had a great summer, thanks for asking." She said, making Sirius laugh. She shot him a look and he shrugged innocently, something that made her furrow her brow in suspicion, an expression that Sirius thought was extremely attractive on her face.

Sirius and Marlene had an extremely complicated relationship, they hated each other, could hardly stand to be around one another, yet the second they were alone they were all over each other, kissing and touching each other wherever they could. It was addictive, it was electrifying, and Sirius had gone a long time without that rush, he was getting impatient.

And now here she was, sat on Gideon's lap, his arms around her waist as she whispered seductively in his ear. Boyfriends had never got in his way before, so he didn't know why it bothered him now, they usually used each other to cheat on their respective partners anyway, yet this one barrier seemed unable to be crossed, and Sirius was sure to change that.

"So, have you all had a good summer?" Gideon asked in his polite voice, one than made Sirius sneer, something that went far from unnoticed by Marlene who narrowed her eyes at him.

"My Parents took me and Petunia to France for a week." Lily said with a smile "It's beautiful there." She said

"I've never been," Marlene said longingly, sweeping her blonde curls over her bare shoulder where her shirt had slipped down, revealing her black bra strap.

"Maybe I'll take you," Gideon said, kissing her cheek and she scoffed slightly.

"If you say so," she said cheekily, but Gideon looked affronted as he looked at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked and Marlene rolled her eyes at him.

"What'd you think it means?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the problem with what she'd just said. Everyone else was watching them with bated breath, even Sirius was watching them interested from the corner of his eye.

"It sounds like you were taking a dig at my family." He said, straightening his back with pride, Marlene just raised an eyebrow at him.

"If that's how you want to take it, fine." She said, reaching down for her bag on the floor and beginning to rummage through it.

"You can't smoke in here!" Gideon said, sounding a lot angrier than was necessary as Marlene placed the cigarette between her lips.

"Fine," she huffily, jumping off his lap and readjusting her frayed shorts as she tucked the cigarette behind her ear for safe keeping, something Sirius noticed she did a lot "I'll go somewhere else then," she said coldly and after throwing her bag back into the floor, she left the compartment, slamming the sliding door after her.

Gideon fell back against the seats, running a hand across his face and through his ginger hair while everyone else watched him curuiously.

"Trouble in paradise?" Sirius asked, smirking at the seventh year and Gideon rounded on him like a bull.

"Screw you, Black," he said darkly and Sirius laughed, "what's so funny, Black?" Gideon asked, his fists clenching at his sides.

"Nothing, nothing at all." He said innocently, but he snickered afterwards and looked at his lap to hide his grin.

"No, if you've got something to say, then say it." Gideon said and Sirius raised his grey eyes to meet his.

"I just don't see how you think you can keep Marlene reined." He said with an innocent shrug.

"Maybe because I'm her boyfriend." Gideon replied smugly, clearly under the impression that Sirius was jealous of him, but Sirius just smirked at the older boy.

"True, but for how long?" Sirius asked and Gideon's face reddened angrily, his neck and ears tingeing pink.

"Is that a threat, Black?" he asked through gritted teeth. But Sirius remained un-phased.

"No, I've no interest in her." He said and he saw James's meaningful look from beside him, "But it's not me you need to be worried about."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Gideon asked dangerously, standing up so quickly that everyone was shocked he didn't topple over. Instead, he glared down at Sirius challengingly, and Sirius, ever the arrogant one, rose to that challenge, standing up to face him.

Gideon was about a head taller than Sirius, and a sure sight stockier being keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but where Gideon was boiling with anger, Sirius remained cool and collected, his grey eyes looking challengingly into Gideon's brown ones.

"You know what I mean." He said feigning caring, "She's a loose cannon, and she's not exactly pure. Not a brilliant mix for girlfriend material." He said feigning thoughtfulness as Gideon's face, if possible, reddened more.

"You're one to talk, Black," he spat back and Sirius laughed.

"No you're right, and you've got her to thank for that." Gideon's fist moved so fast that Sirius didn't know it had moved until it impacted with his jaw. Lily gasped and Peter squeaked slightly, but James was on his feet, whether to hold back Gideon or Sirius, he wasn't entirely sure. But before he could do anything Sirius had swung a well aimed punched that collided with Gideon's nose with a satisfying crack.

"James!" Lily shrieked as the two boys began fighting, kicking and punching whatever part of the other that they could. "James, do something!" She said but James held up a hand to stop her, clearly thinking that the two of them needed this. Lily jumped to her feet, pulling her wand from her robe pocket and pointed it at the two boys, but before she could utter a spell, the two were forced apart, each one thrown back into their seats, Gideon with his face covered in blood from his nose, and Sirius's jaw was slowly purpling, his lip split and bleeding.

"I'm gone for two fucking minutes and you decide to rip each other apart." Marlene said her wand in hand as she held the door open in the compartment. Sirius sat back against his seat with his arms crossed, a sly smirk on his face, but Gideon stood up, opening his mouth to plead his case to his girlfriend, but Marlene cut him off. "I don't care, Gideon, I really don't." she said, holding up a hand "Fabian is three compartments down with Doe, Frank and Alice, go join them." She said darkly and instead of arguing with the determined look on Marlene's face, he left, throwing Sirius a dark looked before leaving.

Sirius waved in response.

"And you," Marlene said, pointing her wand at Sirius, "Give me one good reason I shouldn't hex you into oblivion," she said threateningly, and Sirius smirked.

"Because he started it?" Sirius said and Marlene scoffed loudly.

"And why the fuck should I believe that?" she asked and then Sirius was on his feet, looking at her across the gap.

"Maybe because he's a twat," Sirius reasoned and Marlene laughed harshly.

"You're one to talk. You can't even sit alone for five minutes with somebody without bigging yourself up or shouting abuse."

"Me? You should hear yourself." He said harshly and Marlene's eyes narrowed. "Moping around and shouting at people because you're not mummy's little angel anymore." He said and Marlene raised her wand, her hand steady. Sirius, James knew, was seconds away from getting his own out from his pocket.

"Fuck you, Black," she said coldly, "You know nothing about my family," she said and Sirius laughed, it wasn't a humorous laugh, it was dark and cold. "Besides, you're not exactly one to judge other peoples families, isn't your brother a death eater?" she said harshly, raising and eyebrow. Lily gasped again, James moved to hold Sirius back, but he already had his wand out, pointing it at Marlene.

"Don't fucking start, McKinnon," Sirius said darkly, and Peter recoiled back into his seat slightly.

"Padfoot, leave it," James said, standing infront of his taller friend, but Sirius was still glaring at Marlene over James's shoulder.

"No, I want to hear what else she's got to say!" Sirius shouted, but Lily was already standing back to back with James, trying to calm Marlene down while Remus had his arms around her waist and was trying to drag her from the compartment, an apologetic and guilty look on his face as Marlene shrieked and shouted abuse at him.

"Get off me, Lupin, or I swear to Merlin I'll rip you're fucking bollocks off!" she shouted and Sirius shouted over James shoulder.

"Empty threats, McKinnon, always empty threats!" but Marlene was gone, having been taken down the corridor of the train by Remus. Once she was gone, James and Lily relaxed for a second before Lily rounded on Sirius.

"Was that really necessary?" She said, her hands on her hips as James shifted away from in front of Sirius.

"What?" he asked incredulously, his anger slowly ebbing away, but not enough to clear his vision.

"All of it!" Lily exclaimed, "Winding up Gideon, getting into a fight and then threatening Marlene."

"I didn't threaten her,"

"It sure looked like you were when you had your wand pointed at her chest!" Lily half shrieked, and passers by turned to listen, peering in through the glass door of the compartment, but one look from Sirius and they scuttled away. "Look, we'll be there soon, just change into your robes." She said "Both of you." And then she left the compartment, grabbing robes from Marlene's trunk before walking in the direction that Remus had taken her.

"She has a point, Pads," James said reasonably, reaching for the robes in his trunk.

"Fuck off, Prongs," Sirius said, peeling off his leather jacket and throwing it onto the seat "Just because you want to get into her pants" he said, pulling on his school shirt and trousers, not looking at James while he gaped like a fish, his face reddening to the colour of Gideon's hair.

* * *

"You didn't have too mention his family," Lily whispered reasonably as she sat next to Marlene at the Gryffindor table, Dorcas on her other side, Remus and Mary MacDonald in front of her, Gideon sitting with Fabian half way along the table, pointedly looking away from her as he clutched his most likely broken nose.

"He didn't have to punch my boyfriend, but there you go," she said, spinning the golden goblet in front of her as she looked at where Professor Dumbledore was giving his start of year speech, not taking in a single word.

"Where even are the boys?" Mary asked, looking over the heads of every one at the Gryffindor table, trying to stay subtle as she did so, "I can't see them," Mary was the quietest of their group, very rarely engaging in arguments and tending to shy away from most of the confrontation that occurred. She was small, not as small as Alice but very petite with long, straight brown hair, pale skin and big hazel eyes.

"With a bit of luck," Remus said quietly "They'll be on their way," he finished, but he knew his best friends. Sirius was probably too busy brooding to come to the feast and James would feel bad leaving his friend alone, chances were they were wandering around the grounds, Sirius smoking and James playing with his snitch.

The group of friends were so caught up in conversations that none of them noticed the sorting had begun, only when Lily heard the words "Drew – McKinnon" did she finally come back to her senses and poke Marlene's arm.

"Ow! Lils, what was that-" but she was saved answering when Lily pointed towards the small boy sat on the chair, the hat slowly falling over his blonde hair. Marlene crossed her fingers before looking over at the Ravenclaw table to see Chrissy, her black hair tied in a high ponytail with a blue ribbon, surrounded by her bronze and blue tie wearing friends biting her lip.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted and Drew, his face white, clambered off the stool and began walking towards the sea of black and yellow students applauding him, openly ignoring the shocked faces of his sisters as they stared after him.

The rest of the sorting was ignored by Marlene who was too preoccupied to care. Her little brother, a Hufflepuff, she was sure he'd have been in Ravenclaw at least, he was so smart, but then she remembered his kindness how he was always polite and never shared a secret when he was told not too. He was where he belonged.

Once the feast began, Marlene filled her plate with food, trying desperately to catch the eye of her little brother, but he wasn't paying attention. Only when all the food was gone, the announcement shared and the students dismissed did Marlene finally catch up to him. She was reaching through the crowd, pushing people of all houses until she was finally within shouting distance.

"Drew!" she called and the little boy stopped but didn't turn around. "Drew!" she called again, and the little boy turned his head slowly and looked sadly up at his sister, his big brown eyes sparkling with tears. "Hey," she said kindly, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not in Gryffindor," he sniffled, "I wanted to make you and Cam proud, but I cant now," he said sadly, and Marlene quickly wrapped him in a hug that he immediately returned.

"Hey, you will make us proud," she said, pulling away and wiping his face "I only said I'd disown you if you were a Slytherin" she said with a wink and Drew smiled.

"Thanks, Marley."

"Now go and find you're housemates, you need to find your common room." She said kissing his forehead and ruffling his soft blonde curls.

"Love you, Marley!" He called, waving over his shoulder as the Hufflepuff prefect, Amos Diggory from the year above, stood waiting for him to catch up.

When she reached the common room, she found Dorcas and Mary sat on the sofa opposite the empty fireplace.

"Where've you been?" Dorcas asked, her legs crossed underneath her as Mary looked up from the book in her lap.

"I had to speak to my brother," she said with a smile and the two of them nodded in understanding, neither of them moving when Marlene landed on the sofa between them, putting her feet up on the table since her legs were the only one out of the three of them long enough to reach. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, looking at the mostly empty common room.

"Well, Lily and Remus are showing the first years to their dorms, James, Sirius and Peter are in their dorm and Frank and Alice are over there she said, pointing to an arm chair not too far away where Alice was sat on Franks lap, her eyes shut as she smiled with her head on his chest. "Gideon's up stairs too," she said with a smirk and Marlene nodded.

"Well then, if you don't mind, I'm going to go see my dear boyfriend." She said, slapping each girl on the knee as she got up before flouncing towards the boys dormitory stairs, her blonde curls flying behind her.

"I'll never understand that girl," Dorcas said, shaking her head as she laughed.

"I don't think you're supposed to," Mary said with a small shrug, closing her book. "I'm going to bed now, you coming?" she asked pushing her dark hair behind her ears.

"In a bit," Dorcas said, waving her off towards the stairs, "you go." she said and Mary left, leaving Dorcas alone on the sofa, thinking about the brewing war, and whether or not they were truly safe in the castle that so many called home.

* * *

"Lil's, you've been back two days," Marlene said as she sat on Gideon's lap, watching the girl as she sat on the common room floor, scribbling notes on parchment "How could you possibly have so much homework already?" she asked and Lily looked up at her irritated.

"We have the same OWLs, Marlene" she said, eyeing the girl disapprovingly, "You've got the same amount of homework," but Marlene just shrugged, feeling Gideon as he chuckled into her hair. After their first night, Marlene had stayed in Gideon's bed, her way of apologising without admitting she'd done anything wrong, while Gideon practically chorused his apologies until Marlene had kissed him, just to shut him up.

"Lily, aren't you and Remus supposed to be patrolling?" Marlene asked, but Lily shook her head.

"Me and Remus patrol on Wednesdays," she said, pushing her red hair from her face. Marlene looked at Gideon and laughed slightly before looking at Lily again, who was once again bent over her parchment, her nose practically touching the paper.

"Lily," she said, and the girl looked up her eyes narrowed angrily.

"What?" she said clearly frustrated.

"It is Wednesday," Marlene said. Lily looked confused for a moment before her green eyes widened and she leapt from the sofa, grabbing her robe and throwing it on as she barrelled out of the portrait hole.

"I've got to go too," Gideon said, slowly moving Marlene from his lap so that he could stand.

"Oh?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat crossed legged on the sofa, wearing only her school skirt and shirt, which was un-tucked, the top two buttons undone.

"I got a detention with McGonagall for punching Black," he said and Marlene laughed slightly.

"Did he get a detention too?" she asked, smiling up at him cheekily.

"He had his just before me," he said and grabbed his robe, pulling it on quickly, "But I'll see you tonight?" he said as he bent down to kiss her.

"If I'm not already asleep." She replied, kissing him quickly before half shoving him away. The second she heard the portrait hole close she let her head fall aback against the sofa, sighing in relief.

Two days, two whole days of his needy, pushing and possessive behaviour, she was getting sick of it. He'd sit with her at breakfast, walk her to her lessons, meet her after lessons and then sit with her again at lunch. She was being suffocated, she couldn't even sneak off to smoke anymore, knowing that he'd somehow find her and lecture her about how the smoke was slowly destroying her body.

Reaching into the waist band of her skirt, Marlene pulled out one of her hidden cigarettes. It was slightly squashed, but would still work. The truth was, she had to hide her cigarettes just to avoid a lecture from him.

Putting it between her lips, she went to find her lighter, only for it to be gone.

"Need a light?" she heard a voice say from behind her. Turning around she saw Sirius black, leaning against the wall by the portrait hole, clearly back from his detention. His shaggy black hair was falling in his eyes slightly as his smouldering eyes looked over at her, the flame from his silver lighter illuminating his iris's orange.

"Piss of, Black," she replied, continuing the search for her light between the sofa cushions and on the floor, under the table and even under the sofa, all the while feeling Sirius Black's eyes burning a hole in the back of her head.

"Can I help you?" she finally said, looking up at where he was leaning, his arms crossed loosely across his chest, his shirt undone by at least three buttons and his gold and scarlet tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"I think I like you in this position," he said, smirking at her. It was only then she realised she was searching the floor for the lighter on her hands and knee's.

"You're a prick." She said, getting up and sitting back on the sofa.

"And you're sexy, but let's not dwell too much on that." Sirius replied vaulting over the back of the sofa so he was sitting next to her; she pointedly turned her face away.

"What do you want, Black?" she asked impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You," he replied, his arm resting on the back of the sofa as she tried irritatingly to move away. But every time she moved, he followed until all she could smell was cigarette smoke and what she thought was oil coming off of his body.

"Well I hate to be the barer of bad news," she said, looking up at him from where she was half cornered on the sofa, "But I've got a boyfriend." She said with a quick, meaningless smile.

"That's never stopped you before," Sirius replied with a smirk as he leant closer to her, "Who was it last time, Amos Diggory?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A horrible mistake you helped me realise," she said before mentally slapping herself, was she honestly letting Sirius Black flirt with her, and flirting back.

"You see, I can help you realise the same with Prewett," he said sultrily as he leaned even further, Marlene's back pressed up against the arm of the sofa, but she didn't move, she was ready to play Sirius at his own game.

"There's just one, tinie, tiny little problem," she said, sitting up slightly so that he moved back, moving closer and closer, never touching his body with her own, until he was in her previous position, his back pressed against the arm of the sofa, Marlene leaning over him, her golden hair forming curtains around them both.

"And what's that, McKinnon?" he asked, tilting his head up and parting his lips, waiting for her to close the gap. She leant in closer, so close that they were breathing each others air, him tasting the fruit she'd had for desert still flavouring her mouth.

"I hate you," she said before pulling away, smirking down at him as he stood up, walking towards the girls dormitory and leaving him alone on the sofa.

"You know you don't!" he called after her, but he only heard her laugh in response and the sound of the door closing behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I know literally nothing about what it was like in the 70's when the Marauders were in Hogwarts, I'm basically having this set modern day, so if any songs or films are mentioned that were obviously not out at the time, I apologise. I have researched and I am trying my best
> 
>  
> 
> There's also going to be a lot of time jumps since its spread between 1976 and 1981 and I don't want it to be a ridiculously long story, but I will try my best to fill in any plot holes.

It had been a month now since Sirius and Marlene had been alone in the common room, just one week before Halloween, and instead of her refusal putting him off, it spurred him on even more. He couldn't seem to understand why she saying no to him, sure they hated each other, but that never got in the way before, if anything that made it more enjoyable for Sirius. Where most girls would tell him how much they loved him while they were having sex, Marlene only ever told him how much she hated him or telling him to shut up, and then she'd be gone the next morning, it was how they worked.

But this time it was different. Usually she' d have a boyfriend for a few weeks and then she'd fall back to Sirius, the same with whenever he had a girlfriend, but this time was different, something had shifted in their relationship, and Sirius was determined to find out what.

He'd tried multiple more times to get her alone, but she never seemed to be alone. She was either smoking in the grounds by the lake with her friends or with her boyfriend in the common room, even at quidditch practice she was with somebody, the girl never seemed to go anywhere alone and it was infuriating.

It was Monday morning and the group were all sat along the Gryffindor bench, Sirius sat between James and Remus, Peter on the end, and opposite them sat Dorcas, Lily, Mary and Marlene. Frank and Alice were sat together further down the table talking quietly to one another.

"So, I see everyone's nice and awake," Dorcas said, eyeing everyone at the table, Lily was simultaneously scribbling on a piece of parchment and eating a slice of toast, Mary was reading a book whilst sipping tea, Sirius and James didn't look like they were even awake while Remus nudged food towards them and Marlene had her hands wrapped around her coffee like it was a life line. "Lily, can you go five minutes without doing homework?" she asked, looking at the frantic red-head.

"Nope, I've got an Arithmacy test third lesson," she said, not looking up from her notes.

"But we have the same OWLs and I definitely didn't choose Arithmacy" Marlene said, pointing towards the scrawled notes on Lily's parchment, illegible to anyone but herself.

"That's because you swapped it for Divination in our first week back," Lily said impatiently and Marlene smiled at the memory.

"Oh yeah," she said idly, shrugging.

"Well maybe you'll be able to choose your own subjects for NEWTs and not just copying me." She said huffily and Marlene poked her tongue out at her.

"I could study for my own classes while I'm at it too." She said with a laugh, one everyone else joined in with. Marlene's face, however, fell when a certain other red-head sat beside her.

"What's so funny?" he asked as his brother sat down on his other side.

"Yeah. Me, and Gideon have only just arrived to make your days better, how could you already be laughing?"

"We were laughing at the thought of Marlene studying," Dorcas said and Fabian scoffed, earning him a glare from Gideon as Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Marlene? Study? And here I was thinking my strange dream had ended when I woke up," he said with a laugh and Gideon managed to crack a smile.

"Hey, Mar," Gideon said, kissing her forehead, her cringing slightly at how the nickname rolled off his tongue, but smiling at him all the same "We're visiting our sister over the weekend, she's just had another baby in August-"

"You'd think she was crapping them out," Fabian said with a laugh "Soon we'll have as many nephews as you have siblings, Marlene." He said, nodding to her as he bit into a piece of toast.

"And," Gideon said, silencing his brother "I was wondering if you'd like to come with me." He said and Marlene's mouth fell open.

"To meet your family?" she said and Sirius could hear Fabian whispering to himself, 'Told you she wouldn't like it' "I'm sorry Gideon," she said awkwardly, "But I don't do families." She said with a shrug and then stood from the table and began walking away.

"Mar! Marlene! Marlene, wait. Come back!" Gideon shouted, raising form the table himself, "Not one word, Black." He sneered and Sirius raised his hands in mock surrender, a smirk plastering his face as Gideon got up to run after Marlene who had presumably disappeared for a smoke before her first lesson. They could all hear Gideon shouting after her from their spot on the table.

"My brother's got it bad," Fabian said with a slight laugh as he ruffled his red hair, cut a lot shorter than Gideon's, his stubble far more pronounced too.

"If he thinks he can keep Marlene all to himself, then yes he does." Dorcas said rolling her eyes slightly at how boys seemed to fall over Marlene.

"What is it with her anyway?" Fabian asked, scooting over to Dorcas who was shovelling porridge into her mouth in the most unladylike fashion.

"She's a slut, guys like that," She said after swallowing a particularly large mouthful of porridge, Fabian ogling her, impressed.

"I gathered, but that's not what I meant." He said grabbing a goblet of pumpkin juice and taking a deep gulp. "There's something else, something not quite right" he said and the others eyed him sceptically.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked and Fabian regarded him for a second before replying.

"Look, Black, I've got no problem with you and I don't really care about you winding up my brother, he needs that." He said taking another swig and looking around him, almost worried someone would over hear him as the other fifth years all drew themselves closer to him. "But I don't want my brother getting hurt and there's just something about that girl. I just feel like she's going to be the death of him." He said and Sirius laughed slightly, James joining in. "What? Did I say something strange?"

"That's just Marlene," James said with a smile, pushing his glasses slightly up his nose. "She's a wildcard; you never know what she's going to do next."

"C'mon guys," Remus said swirling the last dregs of his hot chocolate before draining the cup in one go. "We've got divination now and Peter, you've got additional potions," he said, watching as Peter fumbled frantically with his battered and drink stained time-table.

"Shouldn't you know you're time table by now?" Fabian asked, grabbing a piece of bacon and putting it in his mouth in one go.

"Don't ask," James said grabbing his bag from under the table. "You coming, Sirius?" he asked and Sirius shook his head.

"Give me some time, I'll catch up." He replied and James shrugged before leaving the hall with Remus, Peter in tow.

"We'd best be off too, Mary," Dorcas said, "don't want this delinquent to rub off on us, do we?" she said with a sickly sweet smile at Sirius.

"What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?" Sirius asked, placing his hand over his heart.

"It's nothing you've done," Dorcas said in a sweet voice, "I just think you're a wanker." She said with a smile before leaving the table, Mary following after her.

"She's something, isn't she?" Fabian said looking after Dorcas as she left.

"You could say that," Sirius grumbled, deciding he did want to eat some breakfast after all, only for it to disappear from in front of him, the time for breakfast having clearly ended.

"Tough break, man," Fabian said, waving a piece of toast in front of his face before leaving too, following all the other students out of the great hall.

"This is bullshit," Sirius grumbled before grabbing his bag that actually had nothing in it but a broken quill, an empty ink pot that stained the sides, a scrap of parchment and a packet of cigarettes and decided he'd take a detour to the kitchens before Divination.

* * *

"I know he said he'd be late, but this is ridiculous," Remus exclaimed quietly, sitting forward in his armchair, the tarot cards splayed in front of him on the table. "The Lesson finishes in fifteen minutes."

"Relax, its Sirius, I doubt he'll even turn up." James said, leaning back in his chair, his eyes drooping slightly from the smokes and other warm things in the room.

"Sorry I'm late!" Sirius announced as he flounced into the classroom, falling into the third armchair at James and Remus's table, the teacher barely even noticing he'd arrived.

"Where have you been?" Remus asked, picking up the tarot cards, shuffling them and splaying the across the table again.

"I missed breakfast-"

"You were in the great hall with us for half an hour!" Remus exclaimed.

"So I nipped down to the kitchens for some food." Sirius said like Remus hadn't spoken at all.

"And that took you forty-five minutes?" he asked accusingly.

"Well I went for a smoke too," Sirius said reasonably as James laughed slightly in his chair. "Relax, Remus, What're you getting you tail in a twist for," Sirius said and Remus bristled slightly.

"Only that my friends are complete morons who don't care at all about their education." Remus said, picking up two cards and sighing. "Great, I'm due for a lot of pain but someone I know will achieve great things." he said throwing the cards down and running a hand over his face.

"Well it if the full moon in two days," Sirius said reasonably and Remus hit his hand against the table making the old wood rattle.

"Don't you think I know that?" He spat, causing Sirius to be taken aback for a moment. "Sirius, I'm so sorry," Remus said, pulling his hand away and looking at it like he didn't recognise it anymore.

"It's okay, Moony," He replied "I know how you get with your furry little problem." He said with a grin, one Remus didn't even weakly try to reciprocate.

"I can feel it, bristling, just waiting beneath the surface. I think this is going to be a bad one." He said, looking up at his friends with scared eyes. His two friends shared a look before smiling at Remus.

"Good for you then that James and I know who the friend is that's going to achieve great things." Sirius said.

"What are you talking about?" he asked looking between the two friends. James was bobbing his knees with an excited smile, like a child on Christmas Eve while Sirius just lounged further into his armchair with his usual sly grin.

"We've nearly perfected the transformation," James burst out and Remus's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" he asked in a hushed shout.

"I'm always Sirius," Sirius replied, receiving him an eye roll from Remus and a high five from James. "Well I managed it properly last Saturday, I was running around the forest as a dog, it was brilliant. James can change he just hasn't properly got the change back," Sirius said with a smile.

"It's the antlers," James said shaking his head slightly.

"And the fur," Sirius added with a laugh, James shoving him slightly off his armchair. "And Peter, well, Peter is going to need a little more work." He said and James and Sirius shared a look. "But we should be ready by next Full Moon if not this one." He said excitedly and Remus's smiled was a picture to be seen.

"So you really think it'll work," Remus asked, poorly containing his delight.

"If they can't join you, Moony my friend," Sirius said, "I will." And Remus smiled to the point he looked on the verge of tears.

"Thank you, thank you both so much."

"Don't mention it," Sirius said, waving him off, "now what's the problem with McKinnon?" he said, pointing two tables over where Marlene sat on a pouf on the same table and Hestia Jones and two other Hufflepuff's, her head on her hand as she gazed idly out of the window.

"Merlin knows with that girl," James said and Remus nodded, but Sirius was already scribbling on a piece of parchment that he quickly folded into a bird, charming it to fly over to her. She batted it away at first, but after noticing it wasn't going anywhere, she plucked it from the air and unfolded it, reading Sirius's perfectly neat writing, something that always surprised her was how neat his writing was, even if he didn't write in all capital letters.

_YOU DUMPED HIM?_

She read the note and sighed irately, looking up at Sirius so as to throw him a rude hand gesture, only to see him pointedly looking away. Grabbing her quill she scribbled a quick reply before screwing the parchment up and throwing it back at him. She heard both of his friends laugh when the note hit him in the face.

 _No_.

Scribbling another reply, Sirius threw the note back, hitting her chest.

_BET YOU HE'S GONE WITHIN THE MONTH._

Reading the note she cast him a challenging look before writing a quick reply.

_You're on! Conditions?_

Sirius smiled evilly as he read the note in his hand, not looking up at Marlene once as he frantically wrote his reply. Once he'd thrown it back, Marlene read it quickly her eyes scanning the page at least three times before she fully took it on.

_YOU WIN,_

_I'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT._

_I WIN,_

_AND YOU OWE ME A KISS. AND A PROPER ONE, NONE OF THAT QUICK PECK CRAP._

_DEAL_?

Marlene, her mouth slightly open looked over at Sirius who was smirking back at her. She gave him a questioning glance but he only winked before looking away again, suddenly very interested in Remus's tarot reading. Narrowing her eyes she screwed the note up, deciding not to reply by writing, instead gathering her things and putting them in her bag.

The lesson ended and they were dismissed by their dreamy faced teacher. Marlene was the first one of her feet, walking to the table currently occupied by James, Sirius and Remus. Smiling at her cousin and friend she leant down next to Sirius's ear.

"Deal," she whispered sultrily before planting a quick kiss on his check and leaving the classroom, climbing through the trapdoor and heading off to her next class, all with one thought on her mind. She was going to win this bet.

* * *

It was the night of the Full Moon and each of the marauders were sat around the fireplace, waiting for the sky to darken enough so they could sneak out and get to the shrieking shack. James was sprawled in the nearest armchair, Sirius sat on the floor leaning against it while Remus and Peter sat anxiously on the sofa.

"What if I can't do it?" Peter squeaked, his legs jittering madly but Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"You'll do fine, Wormtail," he reassured for what felt like the thousandth time. "You did it earlier so stop whining already." He said as he put a ciagarette between his lips.

"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed as she clambered through the portrait hole, Marlene and Dorcas in tow. "You know you're not supposed to smoke in here," she said standing with her arms full of books and parchment, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Thank you," Marlene said, swooping down and taking the lit cigarette from between Sirius's lips and putting it swiftly between her own, Sirius looking up at her with an admiring smirk as Lily looked affronted.

"Marlene!" she exclaimed, looking down at her best friend who'd plonked down in the only vacant armchair, blowing the smoke out between her lips.

"Just leave her to it," Dorcas said rolling her eyes, but Marlene caught her smile and winked in return.

"I don't know why I bother." Lily exclaimed, throwing all her books onto the nearest table with a loud 'thud' before sitting beside Remus onto sofa, her arms crossed over her chest as James looked over at her adorningly.

"So, Hogsmede this weekend, guys," Sirius said loudly, receiving him a kick from James, one he deftly returned.

"Hey, Evans," James said, ruffling his hair. Lily sighed, looking at him over shoulder.

"Yes, Potter," she replied, clearly knowing what was going to come now.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmede with me?" he asked confidently, grinning boyishly over at Lily who once again, rolled her eyes.

"I'm going with Severus," she said, mock apologetically. "Sorry," and James looked personally insulted, opening his mouth to say something but Sirius cut him off.

"Say, McKinnon, fancy being escorted to Hogsmede with the most eligible date around?" he asked cockily, his signature smirk plaster on his face. Marlene just raised an eyebrow.

"I could, but I've made plans to pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower, which you have to admit is just as fun." She said with a sickly sweet smile, dousing out her cigarette before flicking it into the flames. "Well, as fun as this is, I'm going to bed." She said stretching like a cat before jumping up from the armchair,

"I'll join you," Dorcas said, looking at Remus, half expecting him to ask her, only for him to stare motionlessly at his clasped hands, not moving an inch.

"We should probably go too," James said standing up and ruffling his hair. "C'mon Remus," he said and the other boy just nodded slightly, getting up to follow James, Sirius and Peter out of the portrait hole.

"Remus! Wait!" Lily shouted jumping out of the portrait hole after the group of boys, each of them stopping to watch her with confused eyes. Remus turned slowly and looked at the red-headed girl who was wringing her hands nervously. Seeming to have made a decision she jumped at Remus, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Remus froze not sure on what to do, but then hugged her back out of politeness.

"I hope you're okay," Lily whispered before letting go and disappearing back through the portrait hole with a shy smile.

"He's got further with her than you have, Prongs!" Sirius joked, ruffling James's hair, barking slightly with laughter.

"Screw you, Pads," he replied, shaking his friend off before turning back to a shocked Remus. "C'mon Moony," he said and they all took off down the corridor, Sirius with the map in his hands.

Yet Remus couldn't shake the meaning of Lily's words, his mind plagued with the fact he may have just put another one of his friends in danger.


	4. Chapter 4

"This is ridiculous!" Dorcas exclaimed as she walked with her friends towards the entrance hall, pulling her tight brown curls into a small ponytail before putting her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "Does he not like me or something?" she asked looking at her two best friends as they made their way to the courtyard ready to leave for Hogsmede.

"Maybe not," Marlene said, scuffing her half laced up boots on the floor with a shrug.

"I'm sure he does, Doe," Lily said, sending Marlene a glare to which she stuck her tongue out. "He's probably just got a lot going on right now," she said reasonably but it didn't seem to perk Dorcas up at all. Truth was no one had seen Remus for the past two days, not since he'd left the common room with James, Sirius and Peter and Lily was beginning to worry.

She'd had her suspicions of course, his regular absences, his tiredness and the amount of bandages she caught him wearing, it all added up. She'd tried asking James but he'd just made up some bumbled excuse and ran off, crashing into a suit of armour. There was no point trying to talk to Sirius about the matter and Peter, Peter usually got terrified whenever a girl was within two feet of him. There was only one thing to do, talk to Remus directly. But where was he?

"Hey, guys," said a voice and the girls turned around to see Mary MacDonald, the fourth girl in their dorm running towards them, her dark brown plaits flying behind her.

"Hey, Mary, I thought you were going with Amos?" Dorcas asked, looking at the girls flushed face and slightly red eyes.

"He bailed," Mary said breathing heavily, clearly having run a great way, her smile bright and happy despite the strain in her voice. "So I was wondering if you guys minding me coming with you?" she asked shyly, tugging at the loose thread of her cardigan.

"Of course you can," Marlene said brightly, throwing an arm around the shyer girls shoulder, "'Chicks before dicks' as they say" she said brightly and Mary smiled.

"Who on earth says that?" Dorcas said raising and eyebrow but Marlene just shrugged.

"People" she began leading the way with Mary.

It was a strange picture, Mary MacDonald, the sweet, innocent girl who wore flowery dresses and skirts with cardigans, never to be caught dead wearing trousers was walking arm in arm with Gryffindor's wayward princess wearing tattered jeans and a band t-shirt, with a large black jacket that certainly wasn't hers. It sure was a strange friendship.

"Aren't you meeting Severus?" Dorcas asked, looking up at Lily who was currently counting something on her fingers.

"He should be waiting in the Entrance Hall," Lily said craning her neck to see over the sea of head. "There he is!" she called, pointing towards a skinny boy by the large wooden doors, his shoulders slightly hunched over, his slightly hooked nose buried in a book he was scribbling in, his face hidden behind his curtains of oily black hair. "SEV!" she called pushing through the crowd of other students to stop in front of Severus who promptly put his book away, smiling at Lily.

"Hey, Snape," Dorcas said politely and Snape nodded in return, clearly not very comfortable with so much new company. Dorcas didn't even know if he knew her name.

"Hello, Severus," Mary said politely from Marlene's side and Severus smiled at her slightly, clearly getting more and more uncomfortable.

"Are we going then?" Marlene said, barely acknowledging Severus in the same way he didn't acknowledge her.

"Yes, let's go," Lily said excitedly, pulling Severus along behind her as they left through the gates on their way to Hogsmede.

* * *

"No Gideon today?" Lily asked Marlene as they sat in the Three Broomsticks with Dorcas and Severus, each of them sipping their own butterbeer.

"Not if we're lucky," she said bored, reaching into her breast pocket and pulling out a cigarette.

"You can't smoke in here, Marlene," Lily said warningly and Marlene rolled her eyes, placing the cigarette back into her pocket and giving Lily the 'happy-now' look she'd long since perfected.

"So, Severus, what hobbies do you have? "Dorcas asked suddenly, causing Marlene and Snape to both choke slightly on their drinks. "What?" she said, looking at everyone's wide eyes, "just thought I'd make some civil conversation," she said and returned to her drink letting them lapse back into silence.

"Look what we have here?" Said a voice and Marlene groaned audibly, letting her head drop theatrically. "That's' not a very nice way to great your dear friend, McKinnon."

"I'd rather curse off my limbs than call you a friend, Black," Marlene replied with a sarcastic smile, but Sirius remained un-phased.

"And Snivellus too! This day just get's better!" he said clapping his hands together. "Prongs! Look what I found!" he called across the room to where his friends were sitting beside a window, Peter retreating in on himself slightly, James shaking his head and Remus looking exhausted, a bandage visible above the collar of his shirt.

"Cant you just leave us alone, Sirius?" Lily asked pleadingly, looking up at Sirius, but he was too busy looking down at Snape, a hungry look on his face as Snape glared back.

"Yeah Sirius," Dorcas mocked, "Bugger off."

"Not likely, Meadowes," Sirius said pulling his wand from his pocket. "Whoops," he said, flourishing his wand slightly, causing Snape's butterbeer to topple over, the warm liquid pouring into his lap. "My mistake," he said with a smirk as Severus tried to mop up the mess with Lily wiping up the table.

Marlene, who was far less tolerant of Sirius than the others were, watched him as he barked with laughter, waiting patiently for a moment to act. It came in the beautiful package of the bar maid walking past holding a tray of butterbeer tankards above her head. Knowing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Marlene flicked her wand, watching in great amusement as each of the glasses tipped over, pouring the warm liquid straight onto Sirius's head, soaking him with butterbeer and foam.

"Funny, McKinnon," Sirius said harshly, pointing his wand at her now as she laughed at him.

"You started it," she retorted, twirling her wand playfully between her fingers.

"But it didn't concern you, did it?"

"Well I made it concern me," she said, standing up and facing him, her wand pointed back at him. "Now fuck off before I curse you into next Tuesday," she said and Sirius opened his mouth no doubt to reply but the voice of reason had arrived.

"Leave it, Sirius," Remus said tiredly, the bags under his eyes more prominent than Lily had ever seen them. "You've already got detention tonight, don't make it anymore." He said. Maybe it was the pain and exhaustion in his friend's voice, or maybe he didn't want another detention, but after a moment's hesitation, Sirius lowered his wand and smiled charmingly at everyone sitting down at the table.

"It's been a pleasure as always, McKinnon," he said in a false sweet voice and Marlene made a rude hand gesture that made Lily gasp and Dorcas snigger slightly. "I'll be seeing you all," he said looking down at Snape before following Remus and his friends out of the pub.

"Why'd you do that?" Snape asked, saying the first thing since they'd left the castle to anyone that wasn't Lily. "Why'd you stand up for me?" he asked, his black eyes narrowed slightly.

"Because as much as I dislike you, Snape," Marlene said, swishing her wand to deftly clean and dry Snape's previously soaked trousers, "I hate Black far more," she said with a smile and she swore she saw Snape return one, however small.

"Looks like we have some common ground, McKinnon," Snape said, sitting back down and picking up his glass.

"Looks like we do," she said and smiled at Lily who had her eyebrow raised at her friend in confusion. "Now I've got to go, I'm meeting Gideon's sister tomorrow and I was told to buy her something, plus my dad's birthday is coming up soon." She said grabbing her coat from the back of her chair and leaving the pub, wondering if she'd just managed to make a new ally in her war with Sirius Black.

* * *

"I thought I'd find you here." Said a voice as Remus sat on a fallen tree in the Forbidden Forest, far enough in that the sounds of the school was drowned out but the castle was still visible through the trees.

"Who told you where I was?" Remus asked, not looking up as Lily stood next to him, still wearing the clothes she'd worn to Hogsmede, a small package in her hand.

"Peter, he's not very good and keeping quiet," she said and laughed slightly. "I got you this from Hogsmede, I thought you could use it," she said, holding out the small brown package. Remus accepted it but he didn't open it, he had far bigger issues on his mind than if Lily had bought him a present he'd enjoy.

"So…You know, huh?" he said, not looking at her, instead watching their feet and how his were planted on the leaf strewn floor, hers dangling slightly.

"Every time I tried to talk to James about it her got all mysterious and annoying and started falling over stuff, and Sirius just swore at me, so I thought I better talk to you." she said and Remus looked up at her and saw her smiling at him kindly. "Why didn't you tell me yourself?" she said looking at him properly. He'd taken his jumper off and had it folded neatly next to him on the tree trunk, his shirt unbuttoned slightly to reveal the bandages on his chest, his sleeves rolled up to reveal the ones on his arms. The sight alone broke Lily's heart in two.

Remus was a wonderful human being, he was sweet and kind and talented, everything that James and Sirius were if not better, yet he hid, locked himself away, locked the doors and never came out. She wanted to know why, why he kept such secrets, why he didn't confide in anyone, why he didn't confide in _her_. She'd thought they'd grown closer over the past few weeks, between prefects duties and extra study times in the library, Lily found herself feeling more for this particular marauder than she did any of the others, but she couldn't exactly admit that, especially not with Dorcas.

"I was very afraid, Lily," he said clasping his hands in front of him and looking out towards the rest of the forest, how the sun shone bleakly through the canopy of leaves, spotting a rabbit as it darted through the undergrowth. "You know you guys are like family to me. I thought you'd be disgusted if you found out." He said, his voice riddled with shame and exhaustion his face paler than Lily had ever seen it, the scars on his face standing out a lot harsh than they usually did.

"Remus," Lily said, reaching out a hand and placing it on his. "I know you. You're one of the kindest people I've ever met." She said kindly and Remus could feel the lump rise in his throat.

"It's already driving me crazy that James, Sirius and Peter risk everything." He said, taking a deep breath. "I don't want to hurt anyone, Lily," he said and he met her green eyes with his own, surprised to see them not filled with disgust, but with kindness and determination. "I will never forgive myself."

"I know, Remus," Lily said with a kind smile, "But you should stop beating yourself up and let people take care of you." she said, her thumb rubbing soothing patterns on his scarred hand. "I happen to know I great remedy for cuts and other injuries.

"They're cursed wounds, Lily, you can't heal them with magic," he said solemnly, pulling down his sleeves quickly.

"I never said I could heal them, but it'll certainly help them, trust me." She said nudging his shoulder slightly with her own.

"Is that what this is?" he asked holding up the small brown package, shaking it slightly.

"Oh no, that's something much better," she said, her smile widening. "Go on, open it," she pressed, her green eyes bright and excited. And he did.

Pulling the string delicately before unfolding the paper Remus was met with a purple box filled with a small selection of chocolates.

"They're muggle chocolates, my mum sent me some, but I figured your needs were greater then mine." She said proudly, watching as Remus ogled the box, a happy smile on his face as he observed them "Now then, let's go and get you fixed up," she said jumping to her feet and holding out a hand for Remus, one he gratefully took, and the two began walking back up to the castle talking happily and eating chocolates like there wasn't a trouble to be had in the world.

* * *

"So how was meeting Gideon's family?" Lily asked after all the girls had retired to their dormitory on Sunday evening.

"Don't even go there," Marlene said, Pulling her black dress off carelessly, clearly glad to be rid of the item before falling back onto her bed in her underwear, the other girls rolling their eyes at her as they pulled out their pyjama's. "They're nice enough people, but they're pretty full on." She said rubbing a hand over her face.

"Where as you're just a little ray of sunshine," Dorcas said as she pulled on her black and white pyjama bottoms. Marlene didn't respond, just made an obscene hand gesture, making Dorcas scoff amusingly.

"They can't be that bad," Lily said reassuringly, buttoning up her pyjama shirt, revelling in the soft freshness of the white striped material.

"Of course they aren't," Mary said already sat on her bed with her legs crossed, her long brown hair braided over her shoulder, reaching her waist. "My mother's friends with Molly. She said that woman's a natural born mother, especially after raising Gideon and Fabian,"

"Raising them?" Dorcas asked, looking at Mary with a cocked eyebrow, "I thought she was their sister?" she asked looking instead at Marlene who had her arms over her face.

"She's nearly ten years older than they are," Mary said reasonably, "Their parents died when Gideon and Fabian were nine, so Molly good enough raised them with the help of some aunts and uncles. They live with her and her husband, don't they, Marlene?" She said to the other girl but Marlene only grumbled a response.

"How did we not know this about them?" Lily said climbing onto her own bed and looking at the others girls. Mary shrugged and Marlene grumbled again, Dorcas giving the blonde girl an amused look.

"You really don't want to be with him, do you Marley?" Dorcas said, undoing her ponytail and letting her tight curls bounce around her shoulders.

"What gave you that idea?" Marlene said incredulously, sitting up so quickly her head swam, but she kept her gaze with Dorcas who laughed slightly at her.

"Puh-lease, you're a mess. You've been together like two months now, and not a day's gone by that I haven't heard you complaining about him in some way like a whining child"

"She's got a point, Marlene," Lily said reasoning, receiving a betrayed look from Marlene.

"Shut up, Lily," she said harshly but Lily didn't flinch, she was used to Marlene when she got offended. "Just because you want to shag Potter."

"I do not!" Lily replied quickly, affronted by the accusation, but Marlene ignored her, addressing instead the rest of the girls.

"Theres a war starting, your relationships are nothing short of petty right now." Dorcas said, her voice not harsh but far from reasoning.

"And you all think this, do you?" she asked looking at both Mary and Alice who'd barely said a word all evening. "Well then fuck you guys," Marlene said jumping off of her bed and grabbing a t-shirt from the floor and pulling it over her head so that it fell to her mid thigh.

"Marlene, we didn't mean it. Don't be like this," Lily said, moving as thought to reach for the girl but Marlene pulled away.

"Like what?" she spat, looking at Lily, her blue eye's narrowed dangerously. "Whiny? A petty child? A mess!" she sneered before storming out of the dormitory, slamming the door behind her.

"That went well," Alice grumbled from under her covers, the three other girls looking at one another guiltily.

"So whose turn is it to go after her?" Mary asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I think we should leave her alone for a little bit," Lily said climbing under the covers of her bed. "Give her some time to cool off before we try and apologise." She said.

"Why? It's not like what we said wasn't true, we have bigger issues than if she doesn't want to be with Gideon, which she doesn't and we all know it," Dorcas said climbing into her own bed. There was a whisper from Mary's bed as she swished her wand, extinguishing all the lamps in their dormitory before there was a chorus of good nights, each of the girls falling into their slumber. But Lily lay awake, listening to the sounds of the wind outside, wondering where her best friend had wound up and who it was she really wanted to be with.

* * *

"Marlene?" Mary called as she tip toed into the common room, her dressing gown tied at the waist. "Marlene? Are you in here?" she asked the empty room. It had been at least three hours since Marlene had stormed off, and though the other girls had managed to fall straight to sleep, Mary was having difficulties. She knew Marlene, maybe not as well as Lily or Dorcas knew her, but she knew well enough that when she was angry she tended to be a little more reckless. Back when they were in third year she'd lost a bet with James and was so angry she'd bet him she could climb the whomping willow, double or nothing. It took Mary and Lily, with some input from Dorcas, three hours to talk her out of it.

The common room was empty, everyone having retreated into their dormitories for the night. Paper's were strewn across the tables, nothing but sizzling embers left of the usually roaring fire, the only significant light to see by coming from the illuminated tip of Mary's wand.

It always seemed to be this way, Dorcas and Marlene, the two girls who were so similar that when they fought it was like crashing two burning branches together, would fall out, Marlene would disappear, Lily would try and calm Dorcas down and Alice stayed away from the firing line, leaving Mary to try and play peace maker. This unfortunately often meant walking through the corridors in the dead of night with nothing but her wands light to guide her as she went in search of her dorm mate. The trouble was, if Marlene didn't want to be found, she often wasn't found, not unless it was sweet, attentive and patient Mary who was looking.

Hearing a creak behind her, Mary spun around, her wand raised as she frantically searched for the cause of the sound.

"Who's there?" she asked, her voice strong but still quiet, the way she always sounded. Sweet little Mary, wouldn't hurt a fly, isn't even noticed until she speaks out. Overlooked and forgotten, that was Mary, and most of the time she didn't want it any other way. She was the middle child with her brother, Ryan, having just graduated and her baby sister Lucy only just able to walk without someobody holding onto her. This meant at most family gatherings Mary would be greeted, maybe asked a few questions on how her education was going but other than that she was left alone. Every one would always be too busy fawning over Lucy or congratulating Ryan and it was exactly the way Mary liked it, her life was hers, nobody paid enough attention to notice if she made a mistake or not.

Nobody apart from her friends. The boys not so much, James was always ogling Lily, Sirius too wrapped up in causing rouble and the others were so quiet most of the time apart from the odd sarcastic comment from Remus, but the girls, they noticed. Lily would always jump at the chance to give Mary the credit for their work and ask if they could do the next project as a team and Dorcas would always high-five her if she made a funny comment. Alice was always there to talk to her about books even when the girl didn't read them herself and Marlene, well Mary hoped she tamed the wild girl a bit, helped her to realise her potential and that there was always someone there who cared, someone who would look out for her. Because as much as she'd deny it, Marlene needed looking after.

But then she would pull stunts like this and Mary would go back to wondering if she'd made any impact on the wayward blonde at all, or if she was just the baby of the group, the one who Marlene could sling her arm around the shoulders off and walk through the grounds, or the one who made Marlene look so rebellious due to her ordinary attire. But she loved her friends, Mary loved everyone, it was who she was. People often said there wasn't a bad bone in her body or that she couldn't hurt a fly, and Mary used to take pride in that, but there was a war brewing outside their door, nearly at the boil, ready to tear their precious world apart, and Mary wasn't sure if it was the world a harmless, innocent girl could survive in.

"Is there somebody there?" Mary asked, squinting slightly into the darkness.

"Mary?" came a reply from the boy's staircase. Wafting the light over slightly, Mary's eyes fell upon the pale blue of Peter Pettigrew, the fourth marauder.

"Peter?" Mary replied, angling her wand so that the light wasn't straight in his eyes. "What on earth are you doing out?" she asked, walking towards the mousy haired boy. He wasn't as tall as the other marauders or as talented in most areas but Mary had always found him sweet, a lot like herself in some ways, overshadowed and glad to be out of the limelight, the safety net for those around her.

"I was studying," he said, standing up and stretching slightly, an ink smudge on his face from where he'd leant on his hand. "I must have dozed off," he said shyly, wringing his wrist. It was then Mary realised he was still in his robes, half of his collar sticking up and the cuffs of his sleeves stained with ink.

"Well you should get to bed," Mary said with a kind smile, "It's late and I've got to go and find Marlene-"

"Marlene's missing?" Peter exclaimed, thinking manically about how his friends would react, she was James's cousin and Sirius's, well, nobody knew what her and Sirius were, but if something had happened to her they'd want to be the first to know.

"No, not missing, she just had a fight with Dorcas and ran off, I'm going to find her now," Mary said encouragingly, not wanting Peter to make a fuss.

"I'll check the boy's dorms," he said pointing up the stairs and was speeding off before Mary could stop him. He returned a few minutes later with a wide eyed James, a disgruntled Sirius and an uncommonly scruffy looking Remus. "They're going to help us look for her," Peter said proudly and the boys all gave grunts or mumbles of assent.

"Mary, why don't you go and get the girls, tell them Marlene isn't here and we'll go and search the grounds outside." James said, his tone business like though only Remus and Mary seemed to be paying attention. Sirius was scratching his bare chest while Peter yawned widely.

"Guys, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, just Marlene being Marlene," Mary said hopefully trying her best to get the boys back into their beds, the last thing Marlene would want in her mood was a search party.

"Well said, MacDonald," Sirius grumbled, turning so as to go back up the stairs, only for James to grab his arm and hoist him back down.

"Pads, we've gotta find her," James said determinedly and Remus sighed, rubbing his face.

"Why not just check the map," Remus said with a wide yawn, his words sounding more like a dull howl.

"Yes! Do that- wait, what map?" Mary asked, eyeing each of the four boys curiously, James was shifting slightly on his feet, Peter was looking away, Sirius didn't look like he was even awake anymore and Remus's eyes were wide, like he knew he'd said something wrong.

But before anyone could act on it the portrait hole swung open and the sounds of muttered profanities echoed behind it. Each of the room's occupants turned apart from Sirius and pointed their lit wands at the new comer, only for a confused, freckled face plastered with soaking blonde hair to look back at them.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Marlene asked, baffled by the presence of some many people in the common at half four in the morning.

"Oh, well, um," Mary said trying to think of a logical explanation that wouldn't be a total lie yet wouldn't set of Marlene's temper.

"You know what," she said holding up a soaked hand to silence them all, "I couldn't give a fuck. I'm tired, I'm going to bed." She said and walked past them, the scent of cigarette smoke and the outdoors following her dripping wet frame.

"There we go, mystery solved, back to bed." Sirius said before dragging his feet back up the stairs, Peter, still yawning, in tow.

"That boy is unbelievable," Mary said, shaking her head as Sirius disappeared up the staircase. "His friend disappears in a war zone and he doesn't seem at all affected." She said, sitting down on the sofa and letting her head fall back against the softness of the material.

"Well she'd hardly care if the same happened to him," James replied, "They hate one another" he said with a laugh "I'm going to head off too, see you in the morning."

"It is the morning," Remus retorted, still not moving from where he stood.

"Alright, smart-arse," James said in a sing-song voice before he too disappeared off up the stairs.

"Aren't you going too?" Mary asked, wrapping her dressing gown closer around herself and looking up at Remus.

"There isn't really much point, I'll only be staring bored at the ceiling," he said with a shrug.

"Well that's all I was going to be doing here," Mary said reasonably and Remus smiled, sitting down on the sofa next to her.

"May as well do it with company, then." He said and the two of them leant their heads back, looking up at the grey stone ceiling draped with banners of red and gold.

"Are you worried, Remus?" Mary asked after a few moments of silence, Sirius's carelessness still in her mind.

"I'm terrified," he said with a laugh, "we haven't even started our exams and there's a war on outside."

"Are you going to fight?" Mary asked, her eyes drooping slightly.

"I honestly don't know," Remus replied guiltily.

"I do," she replied, her head falling onto his shoulder, "I'm going to fight for what I believe in, even if it kills me," she said, her eyes shutting.

"You're a much braver girl than me," Remus said, wrapping an arm around her frail shoulders.

"Of course I am," she replied and Remus gave her an astonished looked, Mary smiling at him despite her eyes being shut. "You're not a girl" she said and Remus laughed quietly.

"I think Marlene and Dorcas are rubbing off on you," Remus said and Mary smiled slightly, her mind having drifted too far to reply.

And that was how they were found the next morning by Lily who was headed down for an early breakfast, her mind still guilt ridden from the fight with Marlene that was yet to be resolved. She looked down at the pair and smiled at the normalcy of the image, just a girl and a boy who'd fallen asleep next to one another.

* * *

The rain that day never ceased, adding to the overall melancholy that was a Monday morning in Hogwarts. All the lessons had come and gone, leaving the students free to do their own thing until, for the fifth years, nine o'clock, by which point they had to be back within their common room or dormitory. It was still before dinner, and Lily had spent all of her time since her final lesson searching everywhere she could think of inside of the castle for a certain blonde haired witch.

Apparently, in the time between her last lesson and now, no one had seen Marlene, not even any of the professors, something that was extremely strange since Marlene was the sort of person to always make her presence known. It was only after another hour of searching, fifteen minutes before dinner was served, that Lily finally caught sight of a head of blonde hair sat beneath a tea at the side of the black lake.

"Always got to be bloody awkward," Lily grumbled, looking between the girl's silhouette and the grey sky above her that was currently releasing, fat, cold drops of rain in torrents. "Good thing I love her," she said to herself before pulling her robe over her head and dashing out into the rain, her shoes soaked by the time she'd taken the first step.

By the time she'd reached the girl, whom she now knew to be Marlene, Lily was soaked to the skin. She'd abandoned the use of her robes as a hood for means of keeping herself dry since her robes were now sodden and weighing her down. Her shirt was near enough see-through, showing the vest she was wearing beneath it and her fiery hair was dark and plastered to her face.

"Marlene," she said since the girl didn't seem to have noticed her, "What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" she called, but the blonde girl just continued to look out towards the lake, her blue eye's distant as she watched the rain slash against the waters. "Have you gone completely mad?" she called looking at the girl who was wearing only her school shirt, soaked so her bra was visible, her robes and shoes nowhere in sight.

"I think you were right," Marlene said, her voice deadpan as she looked across the waters. "I don't think I do want to be with him," she said, still not looking up at the girl.

"Then why are you?" Lily asked, but Marlene only shrugged in response. "Marlene, please talk to me," Lily said sitting down beside the girl, their soaked backs propped against the equally wet tree.

"I think my mum's having an affair," Marlene said, her voice breaking through the wind and the rain. "I fire-called home to speak to my dad yesterday when I left, it was his birthday, and I heard voices and giggling, and then I saw a man I didn't recognise walk into the bathroom." She said. "I might be wrong, but I just can't shake the feeling that she's lying to me." She said and Lily slowly, like she was approaching a wild animal, put her arms around Marlene's shoulders. Marlene froze up at first, her entire body tensing, but then she fell back, letting Lily comfort her, knowing there was no point in trying to fight it.

"I'm so sorry, Marlene," Lily said, blinking every time a drop of rain hit her face, making her look like she had a strange twitch, but Marlene didn't seem to notice it was raining at all.

"Don't apologise, it's not your fault," Marlene said matter-of-factly.

"Not just for your mum, but for what I said yesterday too, it wasn't fair on you."

"It's not like you were lying," she said with a shrug, "Anyway, it doesn't matter now." She said monotonously, looking up at the castle for a moment.

"Why? Have you and Gideon broken up?" Lily asked, guiltily hoping that they had.

"No, we're still together, but I can feel it won't be much longer now. I just haven't got the energy to end it." She said casually, like this was an everyday occurrence, and for Marlene it kind of was; only she usually jumped at the chance to break someone's heart.

"Marlene," Lily said, her voice filled with concern as she watched her friend's vacant gaze. "What's the matter with you?" she asked but instead of answering, Marlene turned and looked at her, blue eyes meeting green and she smiled sadly, the biggest display of affection Lily had seen grace the other girls features since third year.

"Is this the part where you convince me to go back to the castle and dry off?" Marlene asked, looking at Lily passively, "Because I'd much rather stay out here and freeze my arse off."

"Then I'm staying too," Lily said stubbornly, removing her arm from Marlene's shoulders to cross it over her chest.

"No you're not," Marlene replied knowingly, but Lily just shook her head.

"Yes I am, you can't stop me." She said.

"I can't, Marlene replied her voice knowing and so distant that it frightened Lily slightly, she'd never seen Marlene like this. "But he's not going to let you stay out here," she said indicating with her head towards the entrance hall where two figures were sloshing through the rain towards them.

"What are you playing at, Evans?"James shouted over the rain as he reached the two girls. "You're going to freeze to death!" he said and pulled Lily, who squealed slightly in shock, to her feet.

"Marlene, you too," Remus shouted and James did a double take, seeming not to have noticed Marlene who gave him a small, half-hearted wave.

"I'm glad to see you're all so concerned, but really, I don't give a fuck," Marlene said with a shrug before turning her gaze back to the lake.

"She won't budge, trust me," Lily whispered to the two boys who looked at one another before nodding in agreement.

"C'mon, Lily," Remus said, indicating towards the castle with his head, "let's get you warmed up in the prefects bathroom," he said with a genuinely kind smile as he began leading the way, Lily only just realising how she was shivering, her teeth chattering slightly.

"But what about Marlene, we can't just leave her." Lily objected, going to turn around and go back, only for Remus's arm to stop her.

"Just let James deal with it," Remus said kindly, droplets of rain falling from the tips of his light brown hair as he looked down at her, his pale green eyes wiser than Lily thought possible for his years. "Now come on, you'll freeze out here," he said carefully putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her back to the castle, neither of them talking to entire way and somehow, Lily couldn't help but think she was the one in better hands.


	5. Chapter 5

"I think we should go camping," Dorcas announced as she sat down at the Gryffindor table one Saturday morning receiving confused glances from everyone around her. "Everyone's been miserable lately and I'm tired of holding the fort. So, we're going camping." She said, splaying her hands on the bench proudly as everyone shared looks with one another.

"It's November," Marlene said with a raised eyebrow and Lily bit her lip slightly before catching James's eye. She'd not told anyone about what had happened the other week in the grounds, and by the way everyone was acting normally, neither had James or Remus. They hadn't really needed to, after she'd woken up the next day, Marlene seemed back to normal. She showed no indication that anything had happened, jinxed Sirius off the back of the sofa and didn't speak about her problem to anyone, so Lily had kept her mouth shut. Still, something didn't seem right with the blonde, she'd even failed to insult one of them on perfect occasions, not that anybody really noticed, but Lily did.

"It's nearly November," Remus corrected taking a bite of chocolate. "Its Halloween, November starts tomorrow." He said with a shrug and the others all turned back to Dorcas.

"So?" Dorcas replied grabbing a slice of toast "Either way you're a witch, cast a warming charm and man up," she said biting into it, with a challenging look in her eyes.

"Fair play," Marlene said, holding up her hands in surrender. "I'm up for anything so long as I can drink and smoke," she said, leaning on her hands once again.

"I'll testify to that, McKinnon," Sirius said with an appraising smirk.

"Fuck off, Black," she replied and the table chorused in laughs as one by one the others agreed.

"So we're going camping?" Remus asked looking over the top of his newspaper, "In the forbidden forest I presume?" he said raising an eyebrow at Dorcas.

"Problem with that?" she asked false sweetly and Remus shook his head slightly, smiling.

"Not at all," he replied and Dorcas smiled triumphantly.

"Good, then it's settled," she said standing back up. "Everyone get your shit together, we're meeting by the edge of the forest at three" she said and then disappeared out of the great hall, a slightly stunned silence left behind her.

And that was how that Saturday evening, before the sun had begun to set, the group of friends all snuck unseen and unnoticed towards the forbidden forest.

"How much further?" Sirius grumbled dramatically, dragging his feet through the leaves near the back of the group. "Is this far enough yet?"

"Fine, Sirius, this is far enough," Remus said dropping the bag he had been carrying. "Now there's only actually four tents, so everyone has to double up," Remus said and before he could even finish, Sirius had latched onto James and vice versa.

"So I take it the rest of us should wear earplugs?" Dorcas said, eyeing the two boys while the others chuckled. "I'll share with you, Mary," Dorcas said and Lily nodded in thanks, knowing tonight was not the night for her and Marlene to have a falling out.

"Looks like it's you and me, Lils," Marlene said, smiling widely at the red headed girl.

"It seems so," Lily replied dropping her own bag onto the ground. "Let's get started then."

* * *

"Marlene, you know anytime you feel like actually helping," Lily said slightly less enthusiastic with the girl an hour earlier. Marlene was sat up in one of the tree's a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of firewhiskey only a quarter empty (impressive for Marlene) in the other hand.

"I am helping!" she called down before taking another deep sip of the drink.

"No, you're not." Lily said wrestling with the ropes on the tent her and Remus were putting up, Peter and Mary working on the other one. "Everyone here is helping. We're putting up the tents, Dorcas and James went to get firewood and Sirius - actually, where is Sirius?"

"That," Remus began, looking over his shoulders and into the darkening forest, "Is a very good question."

"Merlin's beard!" Mary shouted, dropping the mallet she was holding and running away from the tent she and Peter were pitching, consequently making the whole thing fall down. "Did you see that?" she asked looking at the vacant expressions on her friends faces. "Over there, it was a giant dog!" she said excitedly.

"Really?" Lily said, also abandoning her nearly finished tent to join Mary.

"Right there, do you see it?" Mary asked, pointing into the undergrowth.

"I see it!" Lily shouted excitedly. "Oh, it's beautiful," she said watching the large, wolf-sized black dog as it walked through the leaves, sniffing the ground and rolling around, jumping to catch leaves as they fell. "I've always loved dogs," Lily said adorningly, "Marlene come and look,"

"You're alright," Marlene said, starting on yet another cigarette. "I bloody hate dogs," she said taking a long, slow drag, letting her eyes fall shut as the smoke travelled soothingly into her lungs.

"Of course you do," Remus said quietly, chuckling to himself and receiving a raised eyebrow from Marlene.

"Just have a look," Lily said, grabbing a hold of the girls ankle, dragging her unceremoniously from the tree and letting her land on the floor with a grunt, the two girls laughing at their friend who lay on her back amongst the leaves.

"Fine, I'll look at you're stupid fucking dog." She said, scrabbling to her feet, retrieving her fallen cigarette and relighting it.

"Marlene, you know that's disgusting, right?" Mary asked, laughing slightly at the leaves entangled in the blonde girls curls. Marlene simply waved her off dismissively. The girl had once gone a full week without washing out of pure laziness, smoking a cigarette from the floor was nothing in her eyes.

"Where's this fucking dog then?" she asked and followed as Mary poitined into the under bush where the large black dog was looking at them. "It's looking at us," she said distastefully, "Cocky little bastard!" she shouted at the dog whose ears pricked up slightly. "The little fucker," Marlene exclaimed as the dog took off running in the other direction, Remus laughing as it went.

"What?" Lily asked, looking at the girl confusingly.

"The cheeky fucker, I swear that fucking dog winked at me!" she said, pointing to where the dog had just disappeared.

"I think that firewhiskey's gone to your head," Remus said with a boyish smirk as Lily rejoined him in putting up the tent. And Marlene laughed along with her friends, keeping her eyes trained on the forest, unable to shake the feeling she'd seen those grey eyes wink at her before.

* * *

"And when the veil fell away it," Sirius said to his friends, all of whom were sat around the small campfire Dorcas and James had managed to create. "It was none other than," he paused, seeming to create a dramatic effect. Peter was hanging on his every word, James was laughing at his friends attempts while Dorcas poked the fire with a stick, Marlene smoked and Lily tried using nonverbal magic to shut him up. "His mother!" Sirius shouted, the volume making Peter jump and fall off the log while the others laughed at him.

"That," Marlene said, pointing to Sirius with her cigarette, "Was the shittest horror story I've ever heard." She said and Dorcas and Mary snickered slightly.

"Like you could so any better, McKinnon," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I think there's a first year Hufflepuff who could tell a better horror story," she said, smirking across the flames at him.

"Who would that be? You're brother?" Sirius asked, clearly trying to twang a nerve but Marlene didn't seem at all phased.

"I'd rather my brother a Hufflepuff than a Slytherin," she said casually, her voice low and silky, making Sirius grit his teeth as goose bumps rose on the back of his neck.

"And now let's roast marshmallows!" Lily said, noticing the way Sirius and Marlene were glaring at one another, wanting to avoid all arguments that night as possible.

Instead they all had a great time. The rest of Marlene's firewhisky - much to her annoyance - was split between everyone meaning after about fifteen minutes Lily and Mary were singing to a muggle song that no one but them, Dorcas and Remus knew. James was acting like a prat, jumping across the fire and throwing things into the flames while Peter watched excitedly and Sirius and Marlene both sat on opposite sides of the fire, gulping down their ration of firewhiskey in one go.

Two hours later and everyone had begun to retire to their own tents. Mary went first, followed by Dorcas who was getting slightly bored. Remus and Peter then drifted off into their tent, both of them talking about the potions essay they'd been assigned.

"Well, I'm going to bed too," Lily said, standing up and stretching her arms over her head. "You coming, Marlene?" she asked, half turned towards the tent.

"I'll be in later," she replied, putting her last cigarette between her lips and lighting it. "I want to bask in this fresh air a little longer." She said slyly and Lily scoffed.

"The air's full of smoke from the fire and damp from last week's rains, it's hardly that fresh. Plus you're not even breathing it, you're inhaling that stuff." She said pointing to the cigarette between her best friends lips. When the girl didn't reply, Lily just shook her head, slipping through the entrance of her tent and muttering things about 'bad habits' and 'death of me' as she went.

"You too, Prongs?" Sirius asked, watching as his friend half rolled off of the log before standing back up again, brushing leaves and muck from his clothing.

"May as well, we've got quidditch at ten tomorrow, Prewett'll have a heart attack if we're late."

"I should be so lucky," Sirius replied, smirking.

"Don't get yourself banned again, Sirius, we need you this year." James said, pointing at his friend who mock saluted in return.

"And what exactly are you doing, McKinnon?" Sirius asked from his spot on the ground, lent back on his shoulders. Marlene was over by the tree Lily had pulled her out of, reaching up on her tiptoes, trying to grasp the nearest branch.

"Not that it's any of your business, Black," she said snidely, her fingers barely skimming the tree's branch. "But I've got a spare bottle of firewhiskey hidden away up here and I'd very much like to drink it." She said reaching one last time before she fell back with a resolute sigh. "Are you going to help me or not?" she asked, spinning around and glaring at him, the way teh flames were illuminating his face and colouring his grey eyes.

"Do we get to share it?" he asked, riaisng an eyebrow at her. Marlene thought for a moment, tapping her fingers on the tree.

"Fine, but you're not hogging it all." She said, pointing at him warningly. He, in return, mimicked drawing a cross above his heart with his forefinger before her jumped to his feet. She'd barely had time to question what he was doing before his hands were on her waist and he was lifting her effortlessly so she could grab the branch.

"Got it?" he asked, not at all uncomfortable with the arrangement that meant her bum was near his face and his hands on her waist.

"Got it!" she exclaimed with a bright smile and he held her again as she came down, her eyes filled with mischief. "Now things are going to get interesting," she said with a sly smile as she uncapped the bottle, taking a deep swig before passing him the bottle.

"I'm impressed," he said appreciatively, accepting the bottle from her outstretched hand"

"And why's that, Black?" she asked, running her fingers through her blonde, slightly matted curls.

"You downed about an eight of the bottle in one gulp and barely even flinched." He said and raised the bottle to her before taking a swig of his own.

"Some can sing, some can dance and I apparently can drink large quantities of alcohol in one go," she said, feeling as the burning feel subsided.

"Well, congratulation for that" Sirius said with a sly smile, passing the bottle back to her. "What say you we go for a walk? He asked and offered his arm to her, mocking the way his mother had taught him to be a gentleman.

"Are we twelve year old girls now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, looking between his smirking eyes and his extended arm. "I'll walk but I'm not being escorted," she said before taking off into the forest, the bottle in her hands as she crunched leaves beneath her boots.

Half an hour later found the two Gryffindor deeper into the forest than they had intended, laughing and screaming with delight as they ran, skipped and stumbled over everything they came across, including each other.

They soon found themselves lying in a clearing, Marlene having fallen onto her back, her blonde hair splayed across the ground like a halo, her blue eyes wide and alive like Sirius had never seen them before.

"It's a full moon," she said, dazed, as she pointed carelessly towards the sky, Sirius falling down next to her and staring up at the sky.

"Not yet, three days I believe," he said with a slight hiccup.

"Alright, Mr Astronomy," she said mockingly, giggling at herself and the accent that had bubbled unexpectedly to the surface. "Good Lord," she said with another laugh, "I sound like my mother!" she said and started laughing, rolling on her back slightly, leaves crumpling beneath her "Hey, Black," she said, looking up at him with her bright eyes.

"Hmm?" he replied, looking over at where she lay, only an arms lengths away, just out of reach.

"If I become my mother, promise you'll kill me," she said and all joking was gone from her face, replaced instead with the utmost sincerity.

"Only if you do that same for me," he said with a crooked smile, one Marlene responded to.

"But you'd look lovely with curly black hair and a long green dress," she said with a giggle and Sirius took a second to catch onto her joke.

"Very funny, McKinnon," he said, subtly moving closer to her, watching as her eyes twinkled in the moonlight, reflecting the white glow like stars, only he could see these ones perfectly with his own eyes. Her skin was white in the moonlight, no freckles to be seen but the bags under her eyes became more pronounced, and Sirius hadn't noticed them before now.

"What are you doing?" Marlene asked quietly, looking at where Sirius's hand had extended towards her, only slightly out of reach.

"You've got leaves in your hair," he said smoothly, plucking one of the brown leaves from her hair and crumbling it into dust.

"You know what, Black," Marlene said, looking at him with her wide blue eyes, he nodded to show he'd heard her, propping himself up on his elbow as he looked down at her. "You're not as much of an arsehole as I give you credit for," she said with a small smile. "You're not bad company."

"Well the same goes for you, McKinnon, you're not a complete bitch. But it looks like you're going to have to make the most of my company as you won't be getting it in a few days time," he said.

"How come?" she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Our little bet expires in a few days meaning I have to leave you alone," he said quietly, the alcohol fuzzing his mind slightly so that all he saw was the beautiful moonlit girl before him, and the way she was looking at him with childlike confusion on her face. "You're still with Gideon, aren't you?" he then asked and something in Marlene snapped, her face fell and her eyes dimmed, suddenly less alive.

"I am, yes," she said monotonously. "But I don't care about our bet," she said sincerely, the two of them lying a lot closer than they had been before. "In fact, I don't care about anything," she said, seeming to have only just noticed her own outlook, that or the alcohol had made her forget it. "But either way, the bets off, you win." She said with a soft and, Sirius thought, almost caring smile.

"You know what that means though don't you, McKinnon?" he asked and she furrowed her brow slightly looking up at where he hovered above her through her made-up lashes. "You have to kiss me, properly," he said, looking down at her as if asking for permission, Marlene smirked up at him.

"I remembered the conditions," she said, pushing herself up onto her knee's, looking down at Sirius as she agonisingly slowly straddled his lap, her fingers running through his shaggy hair as she looked into his grey eyes, the pupils nearly swallowing all the storm inside them as they dilated.

"What about Prewett?" he asked with a smirk on his lips, marvelling in the feel of her fingers running through his hair, her chest centimetres from his own, her lips, painted a dark, almost purple colour that had faded from the alcohol and cigarettes that passed between them, they were close enough to catch with his own.

"When has that ever been a reason to stop you?" she asked, her voice sultry and soft as silk, running across his skin like liquid fire, awakening something inside of him that he hadn't felt since fourth year when he'd last been with her.

Of course he didn't notice these things being connected, especially not when he crashed his lips to hers, capturing both of them in a torrent of lips and tongues, the kiss deepening before either of them truly knew what was happening, the fire that was Marlene enveloping them both in a whirlwind of flames as they fell deeper and deeper into one another, knowing that whatever happened from now until dawn was going to be regretted in the morning. But like with everything else in her life;

Marlene didn't care.

* * *

The laughs and giggling had finally died away from outside of his tent, Sirius and Marlene probably having passed out or run off or both, either way, James could finally fall asleep and have a half decent night's sleep before he had to be focused and determined in quidditch practice the next day. The second game of the season was after all just a few weeks away.

Just as he began to drift off he heard some scrabbling at the entrance of his tent, a silhouette just visible through the gentle haze of moonlight.

"Fuck sake, Pads," James grumbled, shoving on his glasses and grabbing his wand, whispering 'Lumos' as the tip flared to life. Yanking the tent open James was ready to unload his frustration onto Sirius, only it wasn't Sirius outside his tent. "Evans?" James said, confused as he rubbed his eyes "What are you doing?" he asked checking their camp wasn't on fire.

"Well, it's just that Marlene isn't back yet and every other tent is full so I was wondering if-" she began, but James cut her off, a boyish grin plastered on his face.

"Is Lily Evans, the Gryffindor prodigy, scared of sleeping alone?" he asked, smirking slightly.

"I am not!" Lily protested, crossing her arms across her chest. James thought she looked beautiful bathed in the wandlight. Her hair was pulled into a plait over her shoulder, her face clear of what little makeup she chose to wear and her striped pyjama set was bordering on the adorable. "And if you're going to be and arse I'll find somewhere else," she said and went to leave, maybe to see if she could stay with Mary and Dorcas, failing that Peter and Remus.

"No, Evans I'm sorry!" James said quickly, half falling out of the tent to grab onto her wrist and pull her back. "Its fine, Sirius isn't here so you can come in here," he said reasonably and after looking around him and into the tent Lily nodded her agreement.

"But we're top and tailing," Lily said as they resealed the tents entrance "And if you try anything either me , Dorcas or Marlene will curse your balls off," she said and James saluted slightly in understanding. "Good."

"One question," James said as Lily pulled of her dressing gown, folding it neatly beside the pillow.

"Yes, Potter," she replied, restraining from rolling her eyes, knowing he'd only mock her for it.

"What's topping and tailing?" he asked and Lily almost laughed at his ignorance. Maybe it was just a muggle term but now Lily could see was James and his friends all sharing one very large bed, cuddled together like a tray of spoons and she had to suppress a grin at the image.

"Good night, James," she said, grabbing the pillow and putting it at the opposite end of the tent before climbing under the cover, slowly drifting off as soon as her head hit the pillow, not hearing as James said;

"Good night, Lily." Before settling in himself at the other end of the tent.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sneaking out, Evans?" James grumbled as he sat up in his tent, looking up at the red-headed witch who was wrapping her dressing gown around herself.

"I don't want people getting the wrong idea," she said grabbing her shoes and going to exit the tent. "And if you tell a soul, I'll hex you so hard you won't sit right for a week." She said, brandishing her shoe at him threateningly. He held his hands up in mock surrender with a slight laugh before checking the time on his watch.

"Shit!" he shouted, attempting to disentangle himself from the sleeping bag as Lily looked down at him in amusement though she tried not to let it show on her face. "We've only got an hour before quidditch practice!" he said having finally pulled himself free and began pulling on items of clothes while Lily rolled her eyes, leaving the tent so she could sneak back into her own and avert suspicion.

Unluckily for her, everyone else seemed to already be awake. Dorcas sat with Mary, both wearing coats over their pyjama's as they staring exhaustedly into the embers of the fire from the night before. Peter was prodding said embers, wearing the clothes he'd slept in while Remus seemed to be trying to charm his water into something. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Lily.

"Did you just…did you just come out of _Potter's_ tent?" Dorcas asked, a wide, mischievous smile on her face. "You've been spending too much time with Marlene," Dorcas said with a laugh as Mary smiled happily.

"No, Doe, it's not-"

"I always knew you two would be good together," Mary said and Peter echoed his agreement, but Remus was looking at Lily like he'd never seen her before. Smart, logical, witty Lily, with James just-got-off-a-broom Potter. As much as he loved his best friend and everything he'd done for him and his 'furry little problem' he never thought all his fawning was going to pay off, and Remus really didn't understand the knot in his stomach at the sight of this girl with pink cheeks and scruffy hair as she blushed at her friends.

"I promise it really isn't what it looks like." Lily said with wide, horrified eyes. Though Dorcas seemed unconvinced, Remus might have believe her had James not emerged from the tent in the next moment, his hair even messier than usual, his shirt still in his hands.

"What's everyone looking at?" he asked, watching as Mary giggled and Dorcas smirked knowingly and Remus seemed to be trying very hard not to say anything at all. Lily however had her head in her hands and was muttering to herself quietly. "Where's Sirius and Marlene?" he asked, scanning the people around the campfire, making a mental head count.

"Oh no," Lily said knowing what Marlene was like and still not being one hundred percent sure she was okay, not after seeing her by the lake.

"We've got to find them!" James said manically as he pulled his shirt and jacket on. Lily agreed instantly, pulling her wand from her pocket and going to run into the forest.

"You might want to put some shoes on, Lils," Dorcas said, waggling her eyebrows slightly, her usually tight curls tamed slightly, less wild as they hung free around her shoulders.

"Oh, of course!" Lily said, sitting on one of the logs to pull on her shoes. "Let's go find them then." She said before heading off into the forest, her friends shortly behind her.

* * *

The pounding of her head, the uncomfortable, slightly damp ground and a cold, almost freezing wind was all that Marlene could feel when she final began waking. She stirred, feeling something soft and warm beside her. She slowly began to open her eyes, wincing as the bright sunlight increased her headache.

Looking around, she'd expected to find herself in some random guys bed, maybe even asleep on the floor in the common room, she did that a lot. But instead when she finally managed to survey her surrounding, her eyes flashing with pale blues and pinks from looking at the sun, she saw the forest, bristling with life, birds twittering as they flitted between the trees, rabbits with twitching noses disappearing into the underbrush. It was only when she rolled over and was met by, not another human being as she'd been expecting, but a large, shaggy black dog that she finally realised she was in the _forbidden forest_.

"Holy shit," she muttered, half jumping to her feet, not taking her eyes off of the creature contently snoozing on the leaf strewn ground. It was only once she was stood, her eyes trained on the animal sleeping soundly that Marlene realised how truly cold she was, wearing only tattered jeans and a vest, and how lost she was too.

Looking at the ground she found it strewn with clothing, jackets and other layers of clothing she recognised to be her own, as well as an empty bottle of firewhisky and another empty packet of cigarettes. Pulling her wand from her pocket, grateful it was still there after what was clearly an eventful night for her, Marlene began gathering clothing she thought was hers before taking off into the forest, leaves crunching and twigs snapping beneath her boots as she ran, her dirty and matted hair flying around her head in the freezing wind.

Looking over her shoulder, Marlene checked she wasn't being followed by the beast, her breathing ragged from the running and uselessness of her damaged lungs. It was only when she turned around and barrelled into someone that she let out a tiny scream she'd been holding back since she awoke.

"Marlene!" A voice said and Marlene found herself looking into the dark brown eyes of Dorcas, the girl wearing a large dark green coat over her pyjamas. "Jeez woman," Dorcas said with a slightly surprised smile. "We've been looking for you all morning. Where've you been?" the girl asked, looking the slender blonde up and down. Her jeans were more tattered than the night before, grubby and grass-stained in places now too, her white vest was now a murky, unpleasant colour and her skin was smeared with mud and grime, her curly blonde hair wild and unkempt, twigs and leaves mingling with the blonde tendrils, her clothes all huddled in her arms.

"I was…" Marlene began, only to realise she didn't know where she'd been. She remembered the fire and laughing and drinking, smoke billowing around her. And she remembered going for a walk, laughing and stumbling but after that it all faded to a blur, nothing but the taste of cigarettes and firewhiskey and scent of the outdoors came to her mind.

"Never mind, we've got quidditch in half an hour so we can't even get breakfast," Dorcas said agitatedly, turning on her heel and dragging Marlene by the wrist behind her. "James is having a fit over you, we can' find Sirius anywhere and…" Dorcas said but trailed off, her eyes widening as she looked back at the filthy, still shocked girl behind her. "No! You and Sirius?" she said, the slyest grin on her face as she spoke. "Holy fuck, Marlene," she finished when the other girl didn't reply before she began dragging her again, laughing slightly to herself as she led the way back to the camp.

Flashes began filling Marlene's mind, fragments of her drunken night. The feeling of heat from someone else's body against hers, the taste of smoke and alcohol, the stormy grey eyes that set her on edge in a way that both terrified and exhilarated her, the feeling of someone's arms around her shoulders as she drifted into unconsciousness.

"Oh fuck," she said and Dorcas turned around and smiled devilishly at her.

"Must be the night for it," Dorcas said with a knowing smirk and Marlene just shut her eyes and tried to will away the feeling of Sirius's skin against hers, the way his touch set her afire. "Now come on, James is doing his nut worrying." She said and Marlene obliged, tracking through the forest with her friend, all thoughts of the great black dog gone from her mind.

* * *

"Should we have waited for Sirius?" Mary asked, looking over her shoulder towards the forest that they had snuck out of, now standing closer to the quidditch pitch than the trees.

"He'll find his way out," James said as he led the group, trekking towards the changing rooms, not noticing the looks both Dorcas and Remus were giving him behind his back.

"But what if he's lost?" she asked and Remus laughed slightly, earning confused glances from the others.

"Sirius is like a bloodhound, he'll find his way back." Remus said, smirking to himself as Peter and James shared a look, none of them elaborating and none of the girls really caring enough.

"Right, girls, go and get changed." James said pointing towards the changing room as Marlene and Dorcas trudged in, Marlene holding her head as Dorcas smirked at her. "You lot go and get something to eat and have a wash, we'll see you later." He said before entering his own changing room, leaving the others stunned by the business like tone.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, abashed by the organised manner of the notorious trouble maker.

"James takes two things very seriously, one of which being quidditch." Remus said reasonably, smiling slightly as the group began walking back up to the castle, their shoes caked in mud and theirs steps heavy from tiredness.

"What's the other?" Mary asked innocently, looking up at Remus who was far taller than she was, but Remus didn't reply, only smiled slightly and continued to trek up to the castle.

* * *

"Right, we play Slytherin in just under a months' time and let's face it, we're not overly prepared." Fabian said as Quidditch captain, looking over the whole team. Fabian had been the teams keeper since he was in third year for a reason, he understood quidditch and he had a passion for winning, that and his joking demeanour really made him perfect for the captain. Marlene, James and Gideon were the team's chasers, each of them being as determined as the next. Dorcas and Sirius were the beaters and this year's seeker was a small, shy looking second year with short red hair and freckles. Celia her name was. "Right, let's go ten," Fabian said, ready to take off, had to do a double take of the team. "Hang on. Where's Black?"

"Probably got stuck up his own arse." Gideon grumbled, looking at the floor.

"That or he's tired out from your girlfriend," Dorcas replied, receiving a swift elbow to the ribs from a hung-over and irritable Marlene. Friends thought they were, MArlene and Dorcas never passed up an opportunity to nake the other's life difficult. 

"What was that, Meadowes?" Gideon asked but Dorcas just smiled sweetly at him. Before she could retort anything they heard someone shouting from the changing rooms. And sure enough, Sirius Black was there, dressed in his uniform, broom over his shoulder as he ran across the muddy pitch, his shaggy hair in his eyes and his stubble more prominent than usual.

"Reporting for duty, Sir!" he said with a mock salute and Fabian laughed slightly at the boy's attitude but didn't say any more about it. Whereas Gideon seems to be bristling with anger that Marlene pointedly ignored. Something that became incredibly hard when Sirius walked past her to pick up his bat and winked at her.

"And in the air in three, two, one!" and the seven brooms flew into the air simultaneously, the fresh air making Marlene's head spin.

"You alright, love?" Gideon asked, coming to stop by Marlene's broom, but she just nodded in response. "You know," he said, watching the match from beside her, "You probably shouldn't drink so much if you can't hold it," he said with a knowing smirk and Marlene felt her anger boil slightly.

"And you probably should be this close to me when I'm hung-over," she said false sweetly, balancing on her broom as she tied her still filthy hair back into a ponytail.

"Why, worried you'll upchuck on me?" he said sly and Marlene fought the urge to say something rude and sarcastic, knowing it wouldn't be a benefit for anyone. So instead she zoomed off on her broom, heading for the quaffle and snatching it straight from James' hands to score the goal against Fabian while he was directing the new seeker.

"Nice one, McKinnon," he said appreciatively as James swooped down to catch the quaffle. "I forgot you played a little dirty," he said and she smiled back quickly.

"That's not the only thing that makes her a little dirty," A voice whispered in her ear and Marlene winced at the familiarity.

"Not now, Black" she grumbled before taking off again, joining James with the quaffle.

After an hour and a half, Fabian blew his whistle and finally let the practice come to an end, much to the relief of Marlene and her aching body.

Just as she touched down she felt the relief flood through her as she and the rest of the team began heading back to the changing rooms, only for the silky voice of Sirius Black to appear in her ear once more.

"So you took off in a rush this morning," he said in her ear, his breath tickling the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck.

"Well it wasn't somewhere I wanted to be found," she replied back acidly, hoping he'd leave her alone before Gideon heard and all the drama kicked off. He was one to talk, he'd not exaactly been in the near vicinity when she'd woken up. 

"But we had a blast, McKinnon," he said and she winced slightly. Some little part of her had hoped that he'd forgotten what had happened the same way she had, that he'd have woken up somewhere in the forest and not know how he got there. Apparently luck wasn't on her side. "You certainly know how to make some noise," he said and Marlene spun around, pushing his chest hard s that he fell back a step.

"You stay away from me," she said harshly, pointing at him with her free hand while he maintained his air of carefreeness. "You don't come near me. You don't talk to me and you sure as hell don't think about me," she spat and he smirked down at her, Marlene not having noticed how close to him she'd really got.

"How can I not think about it, you gave me such a night to remember," he said with his notorious Black grin, the one that lifted only one corner of his mouth and showed his perfectly straight teeth, the grin that girls fell to their knees for. But not Marlene, she was looking at this eyes and the challenge he was holding in them as he reached out towards a tendril of her matted blonde hair that had escaped her ponytail.

"Fuck you," she said, slapping his hand away, watching the grin slowly fall into a smirk, Dorcas and James having both stopped to watch the drama unfold now.

"But wait, you already did that," he said loud enough that there was a collection of gasps from the quidditch team and a few spectators who had come down to watch, namely Mary, Lily and Remus with a few younger year groups too.

"What's he talking about?" A voice said and Marlene turned around to see Gideon, his hand griping his broom so hard the knuckles were ivory white, his face slowly reddening with anger. She had hoped this wouldn't happen, had hoped she could just bury it with all the other bullshit that seemed to crop up in her life. But Marlene wasn't a lucky girl.

"Well, Prewett-" Sirius began but Marlene shoved him again, effectively shutting him up.

"You shut up," she said, pointing threateningly at him, her broom abandoned by Dorcas's feet. "You've said enough." She said and Sirius held his hands up in mock surrender before he lent against his broom casually, his cocky, arrogant smirk plastered all over his face.

"Marlene, what is he talking about?" Gideon said again, his voice scary calm as he looked at his girlfriend who looked not guilty, but full of rage.

"Right guys," Fabian said, clearly sensing the tension that was slowly building. "Let's get back into the changing rooms. You too Black." He said but Gideon stopped him.

"No, don't go anywhere, I want you all to hear this." He said harshly and Marlene looked at him astounded by his sudden change. Gideon was usually harmless, a couple of pranks was the worst he ever managed against another human being, but the fury that was emitting off of him. He looked ready to punch Sirius within an inch of his life.

"Gideon, please," she said, looking at everyone nervously, feeling trapped like a deer in a cage surrounded by bloodthirsty wolves, each ready to rip the skin and meat from her bones. "Don't do this." She said pleadingly.

"Tell them, Marlene, tell them what it is you've done," he said and Marlene could see the way he was biting his lip to fight back tears, something she never thought she'd see from Gideon. "Tell them!"

"No!" she shouted back, her own eyes stinging. "I get it, I made a little mistake-"

"Little?" Gideon scoffed, looking at Marlene like she disgusted him. "Adding too much newt eggs to the inflation potion is a _little_ mistake." He said harshly and Marlene fought very hard to bite her tongue, to not say something she was going to regret. "You fucking Sirius Black while you're _my_ girlfriend, that's a massive mistake." He said, but Marlene held her ground.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked just as angrily, two months of putting up with him finally boiling over the edge like water let on the boil for too long. "That I'm sorry? That I feel bad for what I've done?" she shouted, her face reddening slightly, her freckles prominent.

"I want you to admit it!" Gideon demanded. "Tell them all what a fuck up you've made. Let them see what you really are. For once in your life, admit to what you've done wrong!" he shouted, now standing so close to Marlene that he was towering above her, but she didn't cower, she stood her ground and looked him in the eyes, biting back the tears that were threatening to spill over. She wouldn't let him or anyone else see her cry. She was too proud for that.

"Gideon," Fabian said, grabbing his brother arm. "That's enough." His brother said and Gideon fell back slightly, his face paling slightly.

"Just say it, Marlene," he said, his voice breaking slightly, his eyes beginning to water as he looked at her, the way she stood so strongly, like a soldier, someone heading into a battle with nothing to lose. "Please,"

But Marlene remained silent.

"Would it help if I said it?" Sirius asked cockily, everyone' eyes turning to him, some filled with rage, some mildly interested, but Marlene didn't look at him, she remained looking at Gideon, the way tears were spilling out of his eyes, remembering the days they spent in bed together doing nothing, or when they walked to the beach from his sisters garden and realising that she didn't care that it was all about to go up in smoke. Something that scared her to no end.

"You've said enough." Said a harsh voice, and everyone was surprised to see it was James, his face white, his fists clenched.

"I fucked Black last night." Marlene said, her voice not quiet, but not arrogant, like someone had turned the volume up on a whisper. "Everything people say about me is true. I'm cold and I'm a bitch and you don't deserve what I've done to you," she said to Gideon and he nodded slightly. "And I'm sorry you ever got involved with me." she said to the ground before she turned on her heel and stalked off towards the changing rooms, leaving her broom behind as the stares of her friends and teammates followed her.

"Now that that's out in the open," Sirius said, standing up straight and looking around the shocked faces surrounding him like he owned them all.

"Shut up, Black," Fabian said, restraining his twin slightly from going near the fifth year.

"Hey, I always said you couldn't keep Marlene reined," Sirius said, holding his hand sup in mock innocence.

"You also said you had no interest in her," Gideon spat, "so get off your high horse!"

"But I don't have any interest in her," Sirius said and a scoff sounded amongst the group but went very clearly ignored.

"Then why go after her?" Gideon exclaimed and Sirius laughed harshly.

"Because I knew I could," Sirius said like it was obvious, running his fingers through his hair carelessly.

"You little rat!" Gideon exclaimed, finally breaking free of his brothers hold and striding over to Sirius, grabbing a fistful of his uniform and holding him up slightly. "You Blacks, you're all the same aren't you." Gideon said harshly, breathing heavily into Sirius's no longer carefree face. "You may have different beliefs to your elitist family, but under the skin you're all the same, it's in your veins. Once a Black, always a Black."

It was a sight to behold after that. Something coursed through Sirius, something more than rage, this was pure fury. He pulled his knee up, effectively colliding with Gideon's ribs and making the older boy double over before delivering a swift, powerful punch to the seventh year, hitting him in the eye. It was only after Sirius kicked Gideon, making the other wizard fall to the ground that people finally intervened. Sirius had pulled his wand out from within his robe and pointed it at the bloody red-head, the words of a curse on the tip of his tongue before he felt someone drag him away, the shouts and concerns of the other students becoming quieter.

"I think you should go!" James shouted, releasing Sirius when he was a fair distance from the group, pushing his best friend away from him.

"Prongs, you heard him!" Sirius reasoned but the way James ignored him, Sirius may well have not spoken. "You heard what he said!"

"I heard what he said, Sirius," James said much to Sirius's amazement. "But it's not about him, or your family," James said, his voice strained as he looked at his best friend. Somewhere in the scuffle Sirius had wound up with a bloody lip, most likely from Gideon's head bucking up and colliding with his mouth. "Now I'm fine with you and your war on society, I get that." James said, watching his friend's ragged breathing, feeling like he'd just been punched in the gut. Sirius was James's brother, and to be talking to him like this was breaking his heart. "But you don't have to use other people to do it, especially not her." James exclaimed and Sirius's face softened slightly.

"Prongs, you know that's not what this is about." But instead of replying, James swung his arm back clumsily, swinging an awkward punch that caught Sirius in the jaw, knocking him off balance slightly. "James!"

"You just can't help yourself, can you? She could have been happy with him." James said, tears were brewing in his own eyes as he looked down at his best friend who clutching his jaw, knowing he was at fault for it. "She could have finally had something special and gentle. Something she deserves."

"James, Listen to me-"

"No, Sirius," James said, cutting his best friend off. "She's family, I love that girl like a sister, and I will let you fuck with any other girl - you can take your pick - but I will protect her with my life." He said before turning around and walking away, walking back to Lily, Remus, Mary and Dorcas, all of whom greeted him with questions and the need to feed their own curiosity.

And all the while, Sirius stood in the exact same spot on the quidditch pitch, his lip bleeding and his jaw throbbing and bruising from the punch his best friend gave him. And for every moment he stood there, he realised another way he had screwed up, the careless way he'd hurt people, how he'd used them to his own ends and all the tiny components that set him one step away from his friends, and one step closer to the man he didn't want to be. One step closer to being his parent's son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brothers or not, you can't tell me James and Sirius wouldn't fall out at some point. Plus they're young and stupid, fall outs happen, plus they've got the pressure of the war.
> 
> And don't tell me that James wouldn't stand up for his friends like this because he would, he'd stand up for any of the people he loved, even if that meant teaching someone he loved a lesson they needed to learn. *Drops mic*


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIME JUMP!
> 
> I don't want to delve too deep into any of the characters just yet because it is only fifth year so they're 15 and I'm keeping going until they're 21 and I don't want this to be a ridiculously long story. So if anyone is out of character, it shouldn't last long since they're still young.

"I heard he swam three times around the black lake! _Naked_!" A first year Gryffindor said as she and her friends giggled excitedly in their huddle near the portrait hole.

"Well I heard he had to spend three weeks transfigured as a slug in a jar!" another said, followed by the excited gasps of the other girls. "McGonagall transfigured him herself!"

"What are they talking about?" Mary asked as she sat down on the sofa by the fire with Remus, Lily and Dorcas, each of whom wore an identically tired expression.

"Sirius and James made up," Dorcas said agitatedly, throwing an angry look at the giggling girls, causing them to scamper off and giggle on the other side of the room.

"Well I'm glad to see that didn't last too long," Mary said pulling a book from her bag and setting it down on her lap. "I was beginning to think they'd never make up." She said with her usually sweet smile and the others nodded in varying levels of agreement.

It was early December, a month since Sirius had been somewhat disowned by James as a friend. Everyone had thought it would be a momentary blip that they'd be friends again within the next few hours, if not days. So it came as quite a shock when James began avoiding Sirius at every turn, moving seats in classrooms, leaving the great hall whenever he entered and retiring to bed early so as to avoid the inevitable confrontation from his brother.

"How did they make up exactly?" Mary asked after hearing another peculiar story about Sirius secretly being James's real life twin.

"They wont say," Remus said, clearly less interested with his friends making up than the others were. They were friends again, that's all that mattered to Remus. "But I very much doubt it's as exciting as these girls think." he said knowingly. Chances are Sirius caught James of guard and apologised so James had no way of saying no, that's how it usually worked.

"Has anyone seen Marlene?" Lily asked, pulling her hair into a scruffy bun and looking around the buzzing common room. "We've got a project due in on Friday and I've not seen her since dinner," she said, but she didn't sound worried, more curious. It became apparent that the time by the lake was a one time thing for Marlene, she'd not had a 'funny turn', as James had called it, since and she seemed to be entirely back to normal, if not slightly more aggressive. The rumours circling around her and Sirius had far from quelled with the Christmas and winter excitement, if anything they had boosted.

Girls were always shooting glares at Marlene whenever she and Sirius were within three feet of each other, a rare occurrence since Marlene was avoiding him at all costs. People were always snickering behind Marlene's back and Sirius was gaining a lot more female attention, each one trying to 'one up' Marlene, unbeknownst that she didn't care at all. There were theories of what they'd buy each other for Christmas, who's house they would spend it at and when they'd admit to their relationship. The others found it all rather amusing, knowing full well that Marlene and Sirius would never admit to liking each other, let alone dating.

"James said something about extra quidditch practice. They're playing Slytherin this weekend and you know James will explode if he loses." Remus said, dog-earing the page of his book before putting it back into his bag.

"Extra practice? Why wasn't I asked?" Dorcas exclaimed, dropping the quill she was twirling between her fingers.

"Chasers, Doe. The chasers are the ones who need extra practice." Remus said and Dorcas huffed slightly.

"They're going to need it now that Gideon's left the team." Lily said and Dorcas perked up again.

"He did what?" she asked, astonished. "Why did I not know this!"

"Fabian told me last night that he quit the team. They had to get a whole new chaser trained before the match," Lily said with a shrug. Lily cared about quidditch and she'd love for Gryffindor to win the cup this year, but the drama between the teammates was a bit boring to her. "He seems to be making a point of being anywhere that Marlene isn't." she said and Dorcas nodded in agreement, she'd seen the way Gideon had been acting recently, leaving rooms, stopping conversations, and Dorcas was sure she'd seen him dive into a alcove before just to avoid the blonde. Fabian's usually flirting presence had also disappeared from around Dorcas ,something she wasn't sure bothered her.

"And he's taking that out on the whole team?" Dorcas asked angrily and the others all shared a look, the 'here-she-goes' look that they had long since associated to Dorcas' rants. Usually they were resrved for her opinion on politic in both the muggle and wizarding world, but quidditch would often make and appearance too. 

"Remus, we've got patrols to do." Lily said quickly, jumping to her feet just as Dorcas opened her mouth to speak, no doubt to unleash one of her aggressive rants.

"Right you are, Lily." Remus said, following suit as Lily headed out of the portrait hole.

"Well that," Dorcas said pointing towards the portrait hole, "was just rude." She said.

"Well I heard he had to wrestle the giant squid!" A first year said before Dorcas, her face slightly flushed, jumped onto the sofa on her knee's leaning over the back to shout across the room.

"Nobody gives a fuck!" she shouted before sitting back down and turning to the brunette on the opposite seat with a bright, slightly manic smile. "So, Mary, how was your day?"

* * *

"Is it okay for me to be worried?" Lily asked as her and Remus turned another corner, keeping an eye out for any students wondering about where they shouldn't be.

"Of course," Remus said, his hands in the pockets of his slightly tattered trousers. "She's your friend, it's only right that you would want to protect her." He said, scuffing his shoe slightly on the floor.

"But she won't let me help her," Lily exclaimed. "I've tried talking to her about it and she either changes the subject, shouts at me or leaves the room! How am I supposed to help if she won't let me? What- Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking of how much you remind me of James." Remus said with a sly smirk, but Lily had stopped walking completely.

"Excuse me?" she said, eyeing him dangerously, but he seemed un-phased. He faced a monster every month, a glare from Lily Evans, though terrifying, was nothing in comparison nothing ever would be.

"He used to panic about not being allowed to help his friends," he said reasonably and Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "The only difference is that he went ahead and did it anyway." Remus said with a shrug and a smile, remembering the last full moon and the four of them in the shrieking shack. Remus and Sirius howling at the moon, James cantering around proudly and Peter squeaking contently from atop the destroyed arm chair. It was the best full moon he'd ever lived through. "Sirius needs a home, he gives it, I turn into a monster, he helps how he can."

"How does he - actually, never mind. So you're saying that I should help her anyway, whether she wants it or not?" Lily asked, seeming to have been taken slightly by the idea. Remus could almost hears the cogs ticking away in her head.

"I'm saying it wouldn't be the worst thing to be like James. He does, after all, trust his friends with everything he has." Remus said with a smile "Even if they are monsters."

"You're not a monster!" Lily said, running the catch up with the tallest marauder as he began to walk once again.

"Oh I wasn't talking about me-" Remus began with a smile but was cut short when he felt himself glued to one spot, his feet planted firmly on the stone floor. "What the?" he asked, realising he could turn his whole body, look around at the tapestries and the alcoves around him and even shuffle so his body faced a different direction, but he was unable to walk anywhere.

"What's happening?" Lily asked frantically, clearly unable to move her feet either.

"I've got a hunch," Remus said with a sigh, moving to look down at Lily who stood directly beside him, turning so they were facing one another. "I just hope I'm wrong." He said with a tired expression. Slowly, ignoring Lily's questioning glances, Remus looked up, sighing heavily when he caught sight of what was above them.

The two prefects were stood beneath a large archway, an entrance to another corridor, and in the middle of the arch, at the very point, hung a large bundle of mistletoe wrapped in red ribbon, glistening and sparkling like a tiny Christmas decoration.

"Of course," he said with a half laugh, half sigh sound that he had come to master over his time with the other marauders and their silly games.

"What're you – oh," Lily said, looking for herself to see the innocent plant winking down at her and Remus. "I get it now," she said, hiding her face in her hands for a second. "Where did this even come from?" she asked and Reus laughed slightly.

"We made it," Remus said honestly, running a hand through his hair. "James, Sirius, Peter and I, last year. It was all over the common room thanks to Sirius." He said but Lily looked far from amused, in fact she looked rather nervous, her pale cheeks tinted slightly pink. "I think James secretly hoped to meet you under it," He said casually and Lily scoffed slightly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess this is what Sirius has been up to today." He said more to himself, cocking his head slightly as he looked at the decoration, wondering how Sirius had managed to get it up there unnoticed. Then again, this was Sirius, a talented wizard with all the resources he needs and a disregard for anything slightly rule based.

"So how do we get out of it?" Lily asked, shifting slightly and avoiding Remus's eyes.

"Surely you know the tradition of mistletoe?" Remus said playfully with a soft smile and Lily felt herself blush even more, hiding her head in her hands. "Hey," he said, taking a hold of her hands, pulling them away from her blushing face. "If it helps I'm just as uncomfortable about this as you are." He said honestly and Lily scoffed.

"I sincerely doubt that." Lily said, rolling her eyes, but not in an annoyed way more in a nervous, 'please-don't-look-at-me' way.

"Try me," Remus replied with a shy laugh. "James is my friend, if he found out about this he'd kill me." he said with a smile, one Lily half-heartedly reciprocated. "And then he'd probably kill Sirius too, for good measure." he said in mock thoughtfulness.

"So it's not all bad then," Lily said with a slight laugh that Remus joined in with. "I've just never done this before." Lily said suddenly and quietly, wringing her wrist as Remus looked shocked.

"But last month, you and James?" he asked her and Lily seemed to think for a moment before her eye's widened.

"Oh no, that _really_ wasn't what it looked like," Lily assured, not sure why she felt the need to have Remus believe her. "Marlene didn't come back and I got spooked on my own, and the other tents were all full" she said shamefully and Remus nodded in understanding.

"Looks like I've got to make this a good one then," he said with a shy laugh. "Well, we'd better get this over with." He said, looking up at the mistletoe again before looking back at Lily who was pointedly looking at the floor. "Lily?" he said and she slowly, and reluctantly, looked up at him, her cheeks red, and her green eyes wide. "Are you ready?" he asked and she nodded slightly.

Next thing Lily knew, Remus's lips were on hers, chapped and tasting of chocolate as he kissed her, and she kissed back, pressing her soft lips against his harder than she'd initially planned. unsure just how much pressure was acceptable or too much. And then it was over, just as quickly as it had begun and they were free. Remus had stepped back, putting a fair distance between the two prefects.

"We should probably go back to the tower now then," Remus said, clearing his throat slightly and looking at his watch and Lily nodded her agreement. "And Lily," he said as she turned and began walking away. "We can never tell anyone about this, especially not James," he said and Lily nodded.

"I'd never dream of it." She said before she hurried off, leaving the young teenager in the corridor, gripping onto his hair, his eyes shut.

"Fuck." Was all he said before taking off down the corridor in the opposite direction, kicking the wall on the way, terrified that someone would find out. The only reassurance he had was that they were alone in the corridor.

Or so they thought.

"Holy shit," said a female voice from behind one of the tapestries. Slowly she pulled the material away to reveal the alcove behind it. Poking her head out, Marlene looked down either end of the corridor, checking it was empty before she emerged. She was dressed in her quidditch uniform, her hair tied back her broom in her hand as she surveyed the area. "Now that is not what I was expecting." Was all she said as she began walking back to Gryffindor tower, vowing to herself never to breath a word of what she'd just seen, knowing the damage it would cause. Whatever the situation, Marlene knew she would take the memory of what she'd just seen to the grave.

And she did.

* * *

That weekend brought the second quidditch match of the season, and along with it a snow storm only just weak enough to play in.

"Is it safe to play in this weather?" Mary asked, rubbing her frozen fingers together as they took their place in the spectators stands to watch their friends play the game they'd been anticipating since the start of term. each of them were wrapped in their scarves, hats and gloves, Remus looking slightly shabbier than the others, but otherwise blending in entirely with the rest of the Gryffindor spectators. Lily had even painted red and yellow lines across hers and Mary's faces despite the wind and snow.

"They'll be fine," Remus said, taking his spot at the front between Peter and Lily.

"Here they come!" Peter said excitedly, pointing towards the door's to the edge of the snow covered grounds as the streams of red and green began to emerge.

" _And here's the game we've all been waiting for! Slytherin versus Gryffindor!_ " the commentator, a sixth year Ravenclaw called Bill said. " _First the Gryffindor's. There's captain and keeper, Fabian Prewett, followed by chasers James Potter, Marlene McKinnon – she's a feisty one, I tell you – and replacement for the other Prewett twin Alice Watson. Then the beaters, Dorcas Meadowes and Sirius Black and finally, their new seeker, Celia Nettles!_ " he called to cheers and screams from the Gryffindor's, 'boo's' from the Slytherin supporters.

" _And now the Slytherins!"_ he called to cheers and boos from various parts of the pitch. " _First out Captain and chaser Richard Greengrass and his fellow chasers Mulciber and Lucius Malfoy, followed shortly by beaters Carrow and Goyle – more brawn than brain cells – and keeper Avery followed by seeker Regulus Black!_ "

"This isn't going to be pretty." Mary said as she watched them through the snow, Marlene and James were nothing but red blurs against the white backdrop, whizzing around on their brooms passing the quaffle with expert speed, darting between the players like they were nothing. It was twenty minutes in and Gryffindor were already up by thirty points and the Slytherin players were not taking it very well.

Regulus was nowhere to be seen being far too busy searching high up the snitch, Celia was circling the pitch like a tiny red bird looking for an insect while further down the pitch was a mass of red and green blurs. It was unsure of what was happening until there was a cry of uproar from the Slytherin side.

" _And Black narrowly doges a bludger sent his way by the older Black!"_ the commentator called out, laughing slightly to himself as the crowd roared on either side of him. " _And it looks like the younger brother is ignoring the incident and instead continuing his search for the snitch. I'm a single child and even I think this behaviour is odd, family feud or not._ "

And so the match continued. Both teams were scoring goals on either side, Gryffindor still in the lead by twenty points. If Slytherin caught the snitch now it would all be over and Gryffindor would be out of the running for the cup.

 _"And Nettles is diving!"_ the commentator called and every one on Gryffindor's side held their breath as the youngest player on their team fell into the dive, followed quickly by Regulus on his far more expensive broom, both of them nothing but streaks in the snow. " _And she's got it!_ " Bill called out to a roar of cheering that greatly outweighed the groans. " _Celia Nettles has caught the Golden Snitch! Gryffindor wins!"_ and the teams began to descend after Celia who was flying halfway up the pitch, holding the tiny little golden ball in her hands.

One moment she was smiling brightly, her freckled face lit up with joy and the next she was falling through the air, the bludger having hit her hard in the chest, knocking her off of her broom. A gasp ran out through the pitch as they watched the other team members fall into a dive, James, Fabian and Sirius each zooming after the falling girl, each of them together forming a net for the girl to fall into.

"That was a foul!" Marlene shouted to the Slytherins as she touched down beside the younger girl who was being held in Fabian's arms, looking pitifully like a sleeping child in a grown man's arms. "You fucking arse, the game was over!" she shouted as teachers rushed onto the pitch, all eager to check the young girl was okay. "You just couldn't stand being beaten by a second year, could you." She said, striding powerfully over to where the Slytherin team had touched down, none of them looking at all remorseful.

"We didn't do nothing." One of the beaters said, his voice rough and gravely. Goyle, Marlene realised.

"Like hell you didn't! She's a fucking child! Do you honestly care so much about winning you'd attack a defenceless little girl?" Marlene shrieked, stabbing her gloved finger hard into the nearest beaters chest.

"Marlene leave it!" James called across, making his own way over to the smirking green clad players. "They're not worth it." He said, and though Marlene wanted to punch the stupid grin off of all of their faces, she followed her cousin's words, letting him turn her towards the rest of the Gryffindor's who were watching the confrontation unfold.

"I reckon the mudblood got what she deserved." Said a voice, one Marlene recognised immediately. Maybe it was the superior arrogance in his tone or the way his words lilted in a very proper sounding way, but whatever it was, Marlene knew without thinking that it was Sirius's brother that had spoken.

"What did you say?" she demanded, pulling free of James's grip and turning to face the fourth year Slytherin surrounded by all of his older, stronger friends. He looked painfully like Sirius, with his longish black hair and grey eyes, the strong jaw and the slight build of his body. But Sirius was far more rugged, unshaven and unkempt, whereas Regulus looked like he washed between classes.

"I said she deserved it." He said pompously, looking down his nose at Marlene who was only a few centimetres shorter than he was.

"You don't ever say that word." Marlene said, her voice dangerously low. "It's disgusting and I'll bet she turns out as twice the person you are." She growled and Regulus, despite the nervous glint in his eye, stood a bit taller in challenge.

"Typical, standing up for the mudbloods. Exactly what to expect from bloodtraitors, especially Sirius's whore." He said snidely, more to his friends than to Marlene, but his smirk was only on his face for a second before Marlene's fist connected with his nose, not hard enough to break it since James had tried pulling her back, but it was strong enough for blood to run down the younger Blacks face.

James held Marlene back who looked ready to kick, punch and scratch Regulus within an inch of his life, but no one held Regulus who looked ready to retaliate, pulling his wand from within his uniform, only for someone to stand in the way.

"You don't want to do that, little brother, Sirius said, looking down at his little brother's furious face with a cool demeanour.

"Fuck you, Sirius, I can protect myself!" Marlene shouted, still wrestling against James's grip, but Sirius ignored her.

"I'm not your little brother," Regulus spat at Sirius who remained calm and collected. "I'm not your little anything. You abandoned me."

"She got you good," Sirius said, ignoring Regulus's comment, tilting his head to the side with an amused smile at his brother bleeding nose. "Well done, McKinnon," he said without looking at her while Regulus frantically whipped the blood form his face with his sleeve.

"Just piss off, Sirius," Regulus said "This was between me and the blood traitor."

"First, don't swear, mummy dearest wouldn't like that," Sirius said sarcastically and Regulus visibly bristled. "Second of all, I'm a bloodtraitor too, take it out on me." he said, holding his arms out wide.

"This doesn't concern you!" Regulus spat, but Sirius seemed unaffected.

"You're attacking my family," Sirius said bluntly and Regulus seemed taken aback for a moment. "That means you made it concern me."

"You're a disgrace to your family!" Regulus shouted, "You bring nothing but a dishonour to the house of Black! You have no family!"

"Listen here, Reg. I may not have a family where you and our dear parents are concerned, but I have one with them. James Potter is my brother, Richard Potter is my father, and guess what? Elise Potter is my mother. Not the racist elitists you call family." Sirius spat at his brother "And I will protect them with my life." He said, looking back at James for a moment, a silent message passing between the two friends before he looked back at Regulus. "So I suggest you and your gang of pureblood arseholes turn around and kindly fuck off." Sirius said and he could hear the cheers of the fellow Gryffindor's behind him.

Seeing that professors were approaching, Regulus turned and began stalking back to the changing rooms with his other team mates, but not before one of them, no one saw which one, pulled out his wand, firing a quick, blue bolt of light towards the three retreating backs, hitting one of them before they too fled.

Sirius and James barely had time to react when Marlene's body buckled, a cry dying in her throat as she fell forward, her slim frame impacting with the soft snow, the snowflakes that fell against her back slowly turning red before melting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun DUH! nothing like more family drama.
> 
> Please review, I love to know what you guys think.


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